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Saturn and Its Aurora (Hubble)

Saturn against the black background of space. The planet is made up of a very large sphere at the center, which has a range of beige, muted pink, and light green bands around it. It is surrounded by a system of rings, which extends from the top left to the bottom right of this image.

Saturn experiences auroras, also known as northern and southern lights, just like Earth. Here, Hubble ultraviolet-light observations of an aurora are superposed on a visible-light image of the planet.

About the Object

  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    The semi-major axis of Saturn's orbit about the sun is 9.5 Astronomical Units (A.U.) or roughly 1.4 billion km.
  • Dimensions
    DimensionsThe physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky.
    The planet (without rings) has a diameter of roughly 75,000 miles (120,000 km) at the equator.

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.
    The Hubble image was created from HST ACS data from proposal 9354: E. Karkoschka and M. Tomasko (Univ. of Arizona) and STIS data from proposal 10083: J.T. Clarke (Boston Univ.) and collaborators. The science team includes: J.T. Clarke (Boston Univ.), J.-C. Gerard and D. Grodent (Univ. de Liege), S. Wannawichian (Boston Univ.), J. Gustin (Univ. de Liege), J. Connerney (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), F. Crary (Southwest Research Institute), M. Dougherty (Imperial College, London), W. Kurth (Univ. of Iowa), S.W.H. Cowley and E.J. Bunce (Univ. of Leicester), T. Hill (Rice Univ.) and J. Kim (Yonsei Univ., Seoul, Korea)
  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    HST>ACS/HRC and HST>STIS
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    ACS/HRC: March 22, 2004; STIS: January 24, 2004
  • Filters
    FiltersThe camera filters that were used in the science observations.
    ACS/HRC: F439W (B), F502N ([O III]), F550W (V), F658N (H-alpha) STIS: 25MAMA (Near-UV) and F25SRF2 (Far-UV)
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Saturn
  • Release Date
    June 19, 2019
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Survey Saturn and its Moon Titan
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: NASA, ESA, John Clarke (Boston University), Zoltan Levay (STScI)

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

NASA, ESA, John Clarke (Boston University), Zoltan Levay (STScI)

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