this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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Space

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Cover author: Michał Kałużny http://astrofotografia.pl/

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

An excerpt:

Methane gas absorbs almost all the sunlight falling on the atmosphere at this picture’s specific infrared wavelength (3.23 microns). As a result, Saturn’s familiar striped patterns aren’t visible because the methane-rich upper atmosphere blocks our view of the primary clouds. Instead, Saturn’s disk appears dark, and we see features associated with high-altitude stratospheric aerosols, including large, dark, and diffuse structures in Saturn’s northern hemisphere that don’t align with the planet’s lines of latitude. Unlike Saturn's atmosphere, its rings lack methane, so at this infrared wavelength, they are no darker than usual and thus easily outshine the darkened planet.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Cool! Another image for my wallpaper folder!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

James Webb Wallpaper Generator