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APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Neon Saturn

Explanation: If seen in the right light, Saturn glows like a neon sign. Although Saturn has comparatively little of the element neon , a composite image false-colored in three bands of infrared light highlights features of the giant ringed planet like a glowing sign . At the most blue band of the infrared light featured, false-colored blue in the above image , Saturn itself appears dark but Saturn's thin rings brightly reflect light from our Sun. Conversely, Saturn's B ring is so thick that little reflected light makes it through, creating a dark band between Saturn's A and C rings . At the most red band of the infrared, false-colored red above, Saturn emits a surprisingly detailed thermal glow , indicating planet-wide bands, huge hurricane-like storms, and a strange hexagon-shaped cloud system around the North Pole . In the middle infrared band, false-colored green, the sunlit side of Saturn's atmosphere reflects brightly. The above image was obtained in 2007 by the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting about 1.6 million kilometers out from Saturn.

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Date March 13, 2016
Credit Image Credit: VIMS Team , U. Arizona , ESA , NASA
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.