Saturn (2014)

I was rummaging through the Cassini archive because I was wondering what filters were used for today’s APOD. The PDS (Planetary Data System) is a powerful tool but is also cumbersome and I am inexperienced with it so I ended up giving up the search after a bit and decided to process an image myself. I can’t say I know exactly what I’m doing but it sure is pretty. Then again, it’s hard not to capture a beautiful image of Saturn. It’s just out there being awesome no matter how you look at it. I especially enjoy the way blue light is scattered along the limb of the planet.

Red, Green, Blue, and Violet filters were used to create a somewhat natural color image and then a polarized (90°) IR filter was used to exaggerate the clouds which is why the rings also appear somewhat red.

These data were collected in May 2005.

START_TIME >= 2005-05-04 23:00:13.0
START_TIME <= 2005-05-04 23:13:27.0
Instrument = ISS