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Saturn

Release Date September 12, 2019 10:00AM (EDT) Caption Anyone who has ever peered at Saturn through a small telescope is immediately enticed by its elegant rings, which make the far-flung planet one of the most exotic-looking, opulent worlds in the solar system. The latest view of Saturn from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures exquisite details of the ring system?which looks like a phonograph record with grooves that represent detailed structure within the rings?and atmospheric details that once could only be captured by spacecraft visiting the distant world. One such intriguing feature is the long-lasting hexagon-shaped structure circling the planet's north pole. It is a mysterious six-sided pattern caused by a high-speed jet stream. NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft first discovered the "hexagon" during its flyby in 1981. The hexagon is so large that four Earths could fit inside its boundaries. (There is no similar structure at Saturn's south pole.) Other features, however, are not as long lasting. A large storm in the north polar region spotted by Hubble last year has disappeared. Smaller, convective storms?called super "thunderheads"?such as the one just above the center of the planet's image, also come and go.

Space

How to spot Saturn’s rings through a telescope

Seeing Saturn’s rings through a telescope can be an awe-inspiring experience. Now is a great time to check them out, says Abigail Beall

Regulars
JWST image of Saturn

Space

Stunning JWST image sees Saturn show off its glowing rings

News

Space

Bits of Saturn’s rings are falling onto the planet and heating it up

News
Saturn's moon Enceladus

Space

Enceladus shown to have all six of the essential elements for life

News
Planet Saturn in deep space with major moons according to scale (Elements of planet texture for 3d render furnished by NASA

Space

Saturn’s rings could have come from a destroyed moon named Chrysalis

News
Enceladus

Space

Enceladus’s oceans may be the right saltiness to sustain life

News

Space

Scott Bolton on his missions to the gas giants of the solar system

Features
Mimas

Space

Saturn’s small moon Mimas may be hiding an impossible ocean

News
A giant of a moon appears before a giant of a planet undergoing seasonal changes in this natural color view of Titan and Saturn from NASA Cassini spacecraft.

Space

Saturn’s moon Titan may be doomed to fly away or smash into the planet

News
Enceladus

Space

Spacecraft could detect signs of life on Saturn’s moon Enceladus

Plumes of water shot into space by Enceladus, the icy moon of Saturn, may contain molecular signs of alien life, and a spacecraft could collect them from orbit

News

Technology

Snake-like robot could explore Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus

News

Earth

Science with Sam: Are there volcanoes in space?

News

Space

Puzzling signal on Saturn’s moon Rhea may finally be explained

News

Environment

How are sand dunes formed and why do they even exist?

Features