Wavy bands of clouds near Saturn's south pole dominate this ultraviolet
image from the Cassini spacecraft. A bright wedge is visible near the
lower left limb (apparent edge) of the planet. That wedge falls in a
latitude band that borders a darker latitude band a little closer to the
pole.
Viewing the limb of the planet in ultraviolet light allows researchers to
sample the high part of the atmosphere (the stratosphere). Imaging
scientists can discern from this image that the stratosphere in this
latitude band is relatively pure hydrogen and helium and contains very
little stratospheric haze, which causes darkening closer to the pole.
The image was taken on July 22, 2004, from a distance of 6.7 million
kilometers (4.1 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 79
kilometers (49 miles) per pixel. Contrast was slightly enhanced to bring
out features in the atmosphere.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras,
were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based
at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page,
http://ciclops.org.