This is an image of Saturn in falsecolor. The shadow of Saturn can be seen against the rings in the background.
Click on image for full size
NASA/Hubble Space Telescope
Saturn Clouds, overview
This image of Saturn makes use of false color to emphasize the cloud pattern. The clouds form in bands which move across the disk of Saturn. The banded pattern of clouds, or
stripes, is similar to those found on all the giant planets, particularly in
Jupiter's belts and zones. The similarity among all the giant planets, even
Uranus, suggests that there must be a common mechanism for the creation of that pattern.
Cloud shapes of Saturn include eddy shapes, white ovals, and brown ovals, just like on Jupiter. A row of swirling eddies can be seen in the very middle of this image in white.
There are three clouddecks on Saturn, and each one is composed of different molecules. There is a clouddeck of ammonia clouds, a clouddeck of ammonia hydrosulfide clouds, and a clouddeck of water clouds (H2O). These clouds are found in the troposphere of Saturn.
Hazes of smog on Saturn are to be found at very high altitudes above the clouds of Saturn.
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