Saturn's blue cranium
2/12/2005 10:11:00 PM, posted by anandSaw this snap on NASA's site. Here is their explanation of the blue color on Saturn's northern hemisphere:
Saturn's northern hemisphere is presently a serene blue, more befitting of Uranus or Neptune, as seen in this natural color image from Cassini.Check out another superb image of Saturn.
Light rays here travel a much longer path through the relatively cloud-free upper atmosphere. Along this path, shorter wavelength blue light rays are scattered effectively by gases in the atmosphere, and it is this scattered light that gives the region its blue appearance. Why the upper atmosphere in the northern hemisphere is so cloud-free is not known, but may be related to colder temperatures brought on by the ring shadows cast there.
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