Explanation:
Saturn's Rings
are one of the most spectacular sights in the solar system.
Still, this image from the
Hubble
Space Telescope offers a striking view of another kind of
ring around Saturn -
pole encircling rings of
ultraviolet aurora.
Towering more than 1,000 miles above the
cloud tops, these Saturnian auroral
displays were thought to be
analogous to Earth's.
But following the ebb and flow of
Saturn's aurora, with the Hubble's cameras and
instruments onboard the Cassini spacecraft, researchers are now
reporting some
surprising results.
In this false-color image made in
ultraviolet light, the dramatic
red aurora identify emission from atomic
hydrogen, while the more
concentrated white areas are due to hydrogen
molecules.
