Rev 251: Nov 30 - Dec 8, 2016, Saturn / The Polar Hexagon Options

[wildespace]

Not sure which Revolution these images are from (mods feel free to edit the thread title), but Cassini has recently returned some spectacular upclose images of Saturn's north pole and the famous hexagon. You can find them by displaying latest raw images taken with Wide-angle camera and Saturn as the target. Looking forward to some colour composites and enhanced images.

Here's a quick RGB composite by yours truly:


Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Maksim Kakitsev

As the raw images are uncalibrated, the blue channel is probably too bright.

Source images:
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/401544/
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/401545/
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/raw_images/401541/

It's interesting that the clouds in the "eye" of the hexagon are so reflective in blue part of spectrum.

[Hungry4info]

It's interesting that the clouds in the "eye" of the hexagon are so reflective in blue part of spectrum.

I interpret this as a relative absence of clouds (or more accurately a lower cloud deck), allowing for the colour of that area to be more heavily dominated by Rayliegh scattering.