Huge storm on Saturn observed by ESO's Very Large Telescope

Eso_eso1116a_1024

eso_eso1116a May 19th, 2011

Credit: ESO/University of Oxford/L. N. Fletcher/T. Barry

Thermal infrared images of Saturn from the VISIR instrument on ESO’s VLT (centre and right) and an amateur visible-light image (left) from Trevor Barry (Broken Hill, Australia) obtained on 19 January 2011 during the mature phase of the northern storm. The second image is taken at a wavelength that reveals the structures in Saturn’s lower atmosphere, showing the churning storm clouds and the central cooler vortex. The third image is sensitive to much higher altitudes in Saturn’s normally peaceful stratosphere, where we see the unexpected beacons of infrared emission flanking the central cool region over the storm.

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1116a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

View Options

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Saturn
Subject - Solar System
Planet > Type > Gas Giant
Planet > Feature > Atmosphere > Storm

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Pseudocolor VLT (VISIR) Infrared (Mid-IR) 8.6 µm
Pseudocolor VLT (VISIR) Infrared (Mid-IR) 18.7 µm
Spectrum_ir1
Pseudocolor
Pseudocolor
Eso_eso1116a_1280
×
ID
eso1116a
Subject Category
A.1.1.2   A.1.2.2.2  
Subject Name
Saturn
Credits
ESO/University of Oxford/L. N. Fletcher/T. Barry
Release Date
2011-05-19T20:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1116a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
N/A
Facility
Very Large Telescope, Very Large Telescope
Instrument
VISIR, VISIR
Color Assignment
Pseudocolor, Pseudocolor
Band
Infrared, Infrared
Bandpass
Mid-IR, Mid-IR
Central Wavelength
8600, 18700
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
Equinox
Reference Value
Reference Dimension
1198.0, 774.0
Reference Pixel
Scale
Rotation
Coordinate System Projection:
Quality
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
eso1116a
Metadata Date
2011-05-12T17:45:27+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In