PIA01375: Saturn's North Temperate Region
 Target Name:  Saturn
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Voyager
 Spacecraft:  Voyager 1
 Instrument:  VG ISS - Narrow Angle
 Product Size:  1910 x 914 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Producer ID:  P23918
 Addition Date:  1998-12-05
 Primary Data Set:  Voyager EDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA01375.tif (665 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA01375.jpg (207.1 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This comparison shows Saturn's north temperate region as viewed Nov. 5, 1980, by Voyager 1 (left) and Aug. 21 by its sister craft, Voyager 2, from a range of 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles). The large bright oval feature in the lower right of each frame measures about 2,500 km. (1,550 mi.) across. This feature, a gigantic storm system in the planet's atmosphere, was first observed by Voyager 1 almost exactly one year ago. Thus, as on Jupiter, some storms in Saturn's atmosphere are quite long-lived compared to their smaller terrestrial counterparts. By contrast, the pattern of convective disturbances to the north (upper right) undergoes rapid changes in a matter of even a few days. In some respects, these features resemble gigantic thunderstorms. The largest bright feature in the Voyager 1 photograph extends about 7,500 km. (4,650 mi.) from north to south. These giant storms lie within one of the strongest westward-flowing currents observed in the atmosphere, with wind speeds of about 20 meters-per-second (45 mph). The smallest visible features here are about 100 km. (62 mi.) across. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1998-12-05