Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Movie of Saturn Ring Spokes

This Hubble Space Telescope time-lapse series of Saturn images (taken on October 22, 2023) resolves a phenomenon called ring spokes appearing on both sides of the planet simultaneously as they spin around the giant world. The video zooms into one set of spokes on the morning (left) side of the rings. The spokes are transient features that rotate along the ring plane. The spokes may be a product of electrostatic forces generated by the interaction of the planet's magnetic field with the solar wind. This interaction levitates dust or ice above the ring to form the spokes.

  • Release Date
    December 21, 2023
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Watches ‘Spoke Season’ on Saturn
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, STScI, Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)

Downloads

  • 1920 × 1080, 30 FPS
    mp4 (900.25 KB)
  • 1280 × 720, 30 FPS
    mp4 (517.59 KB)

Related Images & Videos

Saturn with bright white rings and multi-colored main sphere. Spoke features on the left and right sides of the rings appear like faint gray smudges against the rings' bright backdrop, about midway from the planet to the rings' outer edge. Above the rings plane, the planet's bands are shades of red, orange and yellow, with bright white nearer the equator. The background of space is black.

Saturn

This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble's ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn's spokes are transient features that rotate...

Compass image titled "Saturn - October 22, 2023: HST WFC3/UVIS" shows the planet Saturn with bright white rings, multi-colored main sphere, and moons Mimas, Dione, and Enceladus. Spoke features (labeled "spokes" indicated in the white circles on the left and right sides) appear like faint gray smudges against the ring's bright backdrop, about midway from the planet to the rings' outer edge. Above the rings plane, the planet's bands are shades of red, orange and yellow, with white nearer the equator. This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Hubble Space Telescope using the WFC3/UVIS instrument. Several filters were used to sample specific wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different colors to each monochromatic (grayscale) image associated with an individual filter. The assigned colors listed in the upper right corner of the image are: red: F631N; green: F502N; blue: F395N. Compass graphic points to the object's orientation on the celestial sphere. Background is black.

Saturn Compass Image

This photo of Saturn was taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope on October 22, 2023, when the ringed planet was approximately 850 million miles from Earth. Hubble's ultra-sharp vision reveals a phenomenon called ring spokes. Saturn's spokes are transient features that rotate...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Mar 10, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Science Credit

Amy Simon (NASA-GSFC)

Animation Credit

Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

Since its 1990 launch, the Hubble Space Telescope has changed our fundamental understanding of the universe.

Hubble Science Highlights

Hubble Images

Hubble News