Discover the cosmosEach day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Explanation:How was the Saturnsystem imaged so clearly?
Astrophotographer Tom Williams captured such exquisite details due to one night of exceptional atmospheric conditions above the United Kingdom.
This means more than a cloudless sky.
Pockets of air at different temperatures and densities move around andbend lightas it travels through Earth’s atmosphere, distorting astronomy images.
This is called “seeing”.
Less atmospheric turbulence means clearer images.
The astrophotographer reduced the impact of seeing with thelucky imagingtechnique: thousands of short-exposure images are taken very quickly with a high-speed camera and the clearest images are added up. Which objectin thissmörgåsbordinterests you?
PerhapsTitanor theicy stripes of Enceladus?
Maybe thegapsandspokesin Saturn’s rings?
Saturn’sopposition, when Earth passes in between the planet and the Sun, occurred on October 4th.
Due to the planet’s proximity and full illumination from the Sun, now is a great time of year to observe it
Tomorrow’s picture:bumpy