Activity on Saturn 1999-2006.

In this section is presented image sequences and animations of activity on Saturn during the last several years. In more recent years, now that image resolution has leaped forward, its been possible to follow minor features on the Planet, previously in the realm of only Pic du Mid and HST observations. A series of white storms has persisted during the last couple of years, some of which are seen in images below.

 

Saturn on March 15th, 2006. This animation in Green light shows two prominent storm systems moving across the globe.

14" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F40. Lumenera LU075 camera.


Saturn on December 20th, 2005. The above animation in red light shows a small spot on the edge of the southern polar region.

14" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F40. Lumenera LU075 camera.


Saturn on December 11th, 2004. The above animation in RGB  reveals a prominent white streak crossing the equatorial zone.

9.25" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F39. ATK-1HS camera.


Saturn on December 11th, 2004. The above animation in Red Light reveals a wealth of fine detail rotating with Planet.

9.25" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F39. ATK-1HS camera.


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Saturn on February 16th, 2004. These high resolution 600-1000nm images reveal another small South Tropical Zone bright spot present.

9.25" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F31. ATK-1HS camera.


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Saturn on December 15-16th, 2003. These high resolution 600-1000nm images clearly show a small bright and dark storm on the South Equatorial Belt. The small animation shows a small dark spot on the polar cap boundary rotating with the images. This spot was also captured by HST several days later.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F31. ATK-1HS camera.


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Saturn on December 14-15th, 2003. These multi-spectral images again show well the different appearance of Saturn in different wavelengths. Significant differences are apparent between long a short wavelengths, especially across the Polar regions.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F31. ATK-1HS camera.


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Saturn on November 28th, 2003. These multi-spectral images show well the different appearance of Saturn in different wavelengths.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F31. Philips ToUcam Pro..


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Saturn on October 28th, 2003. Showing a small bright spot in the South Equatorial Belt. This spot is currently being tracked by others, as well as in recent HST imagery.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F31. Philips ToUcam Pro..


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Saturn on September 29th, 2003. Showing another small bright spot in the South Tropical zone (see the full report on these features in the guide section of this website.) This is the first new spot of the 2003/04 apparition, having already persisted 2 weeks in these images.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F31. Philips ToUcam Pro..


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Saturn on December 24th, 2002. Showing a small bright spot in the South Tropical zone (see the full report on these features in the guide section of this website.) Also, a nice array of dark streaks resembling Jovian festoons can be seen rotating across the Equatorial Zone. This storm was also captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on December 22nd, 2002. A dark streak of material can be seen rotating across the Planet's equatorial zone.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on December 14-15th, 2002. A bright storm and dark streaks can be seen rotating across the Planet's equatorial zone. This can be clearly seen in the Green filtered animation at right.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


Saturn on October 17th, 2002. An image of Saturn showing its usual appearance during a night of good seeing, with a fine array of low contrast belts, and darker polar regions.

11" Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on October 6th, 1999. Distinct turbulence across the EZ (which is seen to rotate between image sets), from white cloud activity to distinct dark streaks forming a thin, second EB. Wisps of material along both edges of the SEB.

12" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on September 12th, 1999. More faint white cloud activity is seen across the EZ. Small streaks of material are also present across the EZ. Faint detail across the South Temperate Region, and a notable thick sector of STB is present near the limb. Also note turbulence along the faint EB.

12" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on September 8th, 1999. Faint white cloud activity is seen across the EZ, with faint dark spots/streaks also seen across the EZ. Note this EZ turbulence is seen to rotate between the two images sets. Faint wisps of material along the both the SEB(N) and (S) edges. 

12" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on September 6th, 1999. All images show clear activity across the EZ and SEB. the 02:00-02:03 images show a distinct thin streak across the EZ forming part of a second EB. Other activity seen is a distinct thickening of the SEBn component, this can be seen to have rotated better into view between the 02:00 and 03:02 images. Hints of turbulence along this thickened section of belt.

12" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.


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Saturn on September 4th & 5th, 1999. Images from the 4th show clear white streaks bisected by a thin dark line of material. Images from the 5th show noticeable turbulence along the SEBn edge. Also faint white/dark streaks of material are present.

12" Meade Schmidt Cassegrain @ F22. SBIG ST-5c camera.

 


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