Saturn's subtle spectrum
Saturn's subtle spectrum
Dreamy colours ranging from pale rose to butterscotch to sapphire give this utterly inhospitable gas planet a romantic appeal. Shadows of the rings caress the northern latitudes whose blue colour is presumed to be a seasonal effect. Enceladus (505 kilometers across) hugs the ringplane right of center.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this colour view, which approximates what the human eye would see.
The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on 16 March, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers from Saturn. Image scale is 120 kilometers per pixel on Saturn.
