ESA - Cassini-Huygens - Saturn's atmosphere

Unique insights into a ringed world

About Cassini-Huygens

Cassini-Huygens mission facts The mission Cassini spacecraft Cassini instruments Huygens spacecraft Huygens instruments The launcher

About Saturn

Facts about Saturn Saturn's rings Saturn's moons

Saturn's atmosphere

Saturn's magnetosphere

About Titan

Facts about Titan Titan's atmosphere Titan's surface Life on Titan?

Meet the team

International collaboration Huygens Mission Team Cassini Project Team ASI Programme Manager Huygens investigators Cassini orbiter investigators (1)Cassini orbiter investigators (2)

Multimedia

VideoTalk Cassini-Huygens images Cassini-Huygens videos Titan virtual tour Hygens probe descent - multilingual CD-rom Download wallpapers Download screensavers 3D Flash 'model'SOI animation Waiting for Titan - the human side of Huygens

Watch the event

Press conference 2 Press conference Status report 6 Status report 5 Status report 4 Status report 3 Status report 2 Status report 1 Overview of events

Services

Comments

Article Images

Saturn's atmosphere

Back to article

This enhanced-colour image of the northern hemisphere of Saturn was taken by the US Voyager 1 on 5 November 1980 at a range of 9 million kilometres. Its shows a variety of features in Saturn's clouds. Small-scale convective cloud features are visible in the brown belt; an isolated convective cloud with a dark ring is seen in the light-brown zone; and a longitudinal wave is visible in the light blue region.

The smallest features visible in this photograph are 175 kilometres across. Time-lapse images of cloud features like these not only provide information on how these storms evolve with time, but provide a way to measure atmospheric wind speeds.

On Saturn and the other gas giants, winds blow mainly along lines of constant latitude. Near Saturn's equator, winds blow eastward (the same direction as Saturn rotates) at speeds of about 1100 metres per second.

Credits: NASA/JPL

At Saturn and Titan

More about...