The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. He is part of the team building the DISR for the Huygens mission, and is working with Martin Tomasko, at times also with Peter Smith's group. He has participated in the calibration and analysis of Hubble Space Telescope data acquired during and after the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 on Jupiter in 1994. While many previous model atmospheres of Saturn, Titan, and Uranus were globally homogeneous, Karkoschka's work focuses on latitudinal variations found on all three bodies. These data were supplemented by his spectroscopy observations at the European Southern Observatory in 19. Karkoschka has used the Hubble Space Telescope to take images of Saturn, Titan, and Uranus to derive the vertical atmospheric structure of gases and aerosols. In addition, when compared with images of Saturn from seasons past (19), this view of the planet also offers scientists a better comprehension of Saturn's seasonal changes. At certain visible and infrared wavelengths, light absorption by methane gas blocks all but the uppermost layers of Saturn's atmosphere, which helps researchers discern clouds at different altitudes. By determining the characteristics of the atmosphere's constituents, researchers can describe the dynamics of cloud formation. For example, smaller aerosols are visible only in the ultraviolet image, because they do not scatter or absorb visible or infrared light, which have longer wavelengths. Over several wavelength bands, from infrared to ultraviolet, these images reveal the properties and sizes of aerosols in Saturn's gaseous makeup. Scientists gain insight into the structure and gaseous composition of Saturn's clouds via inspection of images such as these taken by the Hubble telescope. In fact, only by combining and comparing these different images, in a set such as this one, can researchers interpret the data and better understand the planet.īy examining the hazes and clouds present in these images, researchers can learn about the dynamics of Saturn's atmosphere. One image cannot stand by itself because one feature may have several interpretations. Particles in Saturn's atmosphere reflect different wavelengths of light in discrete ways, causing some bands of gas in the atmosphere to stand out vividly in an image, while other areas will be very dark or dull. Various wavelengths of light allow researchers to see important characteristics of Saturn's atmosphere.
"The set of 30 selected filters may be the best spectral coverage of Saturn observations ever obtained," said Erich Karkoschka of the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. Scientists from the University of Arizona and NASA used the telescope's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and 30 filters to snap the new images on March 7, 2003. They used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to capture detailed images of Saturn's Southern Hemisphere and the southern face of its rings.
#Image of saturn through telescope full#
This means that approximately every 30 years, Earth observers can catch their best glimpse of Saturn's South Pole and the southern side of the planet's rings.īetween March and April 2003, researchers took full advantage to study the gas giant at maximum tilt. This happens over the course of its 29.5-year orbit. Saturn experiences seasonal tilts away from and toward the Sun, much the same way Earth does.
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