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Hubble Provides Clear Images Of Saturn's Aurora

Hubble Provides Clear Images Of Saturn's Aurora


Depicts: Saturn
Copyright: J.T. Trauger (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) and NASA

This is the first image of Saturns ultraviolet aurora taken by the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope in October 1997, when Saturn was a distance of 810 million miles (1.3 billion kilometers) from Earth. The new instrument, used as a camera, provides more than ten times the sensitivity of previous Hubble instruments in the ultraviolet. STIS images reveal exquisite detail never before seen in the spectacular auroral curtains of light that encircle Saturns north and south poles and rise more than a thousand miles above the cloud tops.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
28-Mar-2024 09:46 UT

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https://sci.esa.int/s/w7NggMA

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