Wind-blown clouds and hazes high in Saturn's atmosphere are captured in a movie made from images taken by the Cassini narrow angle camera between Feb
The Cassini spacecraft captures wind-blown clouds and haze high in Saturn's atmosphere in this new near-infrared wavelength image, released today. Cassini was 40.7 million miles (65.6 million kilometers) from the ringed planet when the image was made.
The bright areas represent high hazes and clouds near the top of Saturn's troposphere. The rings are overexposed and were not the intended subject of the imaging effort.
Researchers have speculated that the bright cloud patterns there are associated with water-moist convection arising from a deeper atmospheric level where water condenses on Saturn, and rising to levels at or above the visible cloud tops. Close analysis of future images by scientists on the Cassini-Huygens mission should help determine if this is the case, astronomers said.
A movie showing atmospheric motion from Feb. 15-19 can
be seen at the Cassini image site, here.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. It is due to arrive at Saturn July 1.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science
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