Object Name:

Saturn

Object Description:

Planet with Satellites

Distance:

The semi-major axis of Saturn's orbit about the sun is 9.5 astronomical units (A.U.) or roughly 1.4 billion km.

Dimensions:

The planet (without rings) has a diameter of roughly 75,000 miles (120,000 km) at the equator.

Data Description:

The Hubble images and videos were created from HST data from proposal 11956: K. Noll, Z. Levay, M. Mutchler, L. Frattare, C. Christian, F. Hamilton, and H. Bond (Hubble Heritage Team/STScI/AURA). B. Januszewski (STScI), M.H. Wong (STScI/UC Berkeley), and C. Go (Phillipines) also helped with image conception, proposal preparation/processing and data analysis.

Instrument:

WFPC2

Exposure Dates:

February 24, 2009

Filters:

F439W (B), F555W (V), and F675W (R)

Image Credit:

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Release Date:

March 17, 2009

Color:

The image is a composite of separate exposures made by the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Three filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are:

Orientation/Scale: