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Explanation: DonÁt get spooked by SaturnÁs ghostly spokes! Today we feature a nearly two-hour timelapse of Saturn and its rings looping forwards and backwards. A day on Saturn is only 10 hours long, so two hours of observation covers quite a bit of its rotation. If you look closely, a ghoulish shadow appears and disappears as SaturnÁs B ring rotates. Decades of observation with Voyager 2, Cassini, and Hubble show the appearance of SaturnÁs spokes varies with the planetÁs seasons. Like Earth, SaturnÁs spin axis is tilted compared to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. During SaturnÁs equinox, the rings are less tilted away from the Sun and the planet receives more evenly distributed sunlight and solar wind. Although their origin is still uncertain, SaturnÁs spokes may be shadows of and reflections off of dust and ice levitating above the rings caused by electromagnetic interactions between the solar wind and the planetÁs magnetic field.
Find dark skies and look up this August to witness
the Perseid meteor shower
uninhibited by the Moon!
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: asteroid - Mars - spacecraft
Publications with words: asteroid - Mars - spacecraft
See also:
- APOD: 2026 July 29 Á Psyche Receives Gravity Assist from Mars
- APOD: 2026 July 28 Á Barnards Loop over Twin Volcanoes
- APOD: 2026 July 21 Á Turtle Rock on Mars
- APOD: 2026 June 30 Á Unusually Smooth Sections of Asteroid Itokawa
- APOD: 2026 June 27 Á Mars Marathon by Perseverance
- APOD: 2026 February 22 Á Shadow of a Martian Robot
- APOD: 2026 February 1 Á Galle: Happy Face Crater on Mars