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Saturn's atmosphere exhibits a banded pattern similar to Jupiter's, but Saturn's bands are much fainter and are much wider near the equator. The nomenclature used to describe these bands is the same as on Jupiter. Saturn's finer cloud patterns were not observed until the flybys of the Voyager spacecraft during the 1980s.
An atmosphere (from Ancient Greek ἀτμός (atmós) 'vapour, steam' and σφαῖρα (sphaîra) 'sphere') [1] is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low.
The full set of rings, imaged on 19 July 2013 as Saturn eclipses the Sun from the vantage of the Cassini orbiter, 1.2 million km (¾ million miles) distant (brightness is exaggerated). Earth appears as a dot at 4 o'clock, between the G and E rings. The rings of Saturn are the most extensive and complex ring system of any planet in the Solar System.
For half of Saturn's "year," the planet is tilted toward the sun, lighting the top of its rings. And, for the other half of its year, the reverse is true. ... Saturn's atmosphere is made up mostly ...
One hypothesis, developed at Oxford University, is that the hexagon forms where there is a steep latitudinal gradient in the speed of the atmospheric winds in Saturn's atmosphere. [22] Similar regular shapes were created in the laboratory when a circular tank of liquid was rotated at different speeds at its centre and periphery.
A primary atmosphere is an atmosphere of a planet that forms by accretion of gaseous matter from the accretion disc of the planet's sun. Planets such as Jupiter and Saturn have primary atmospheres. Primary atmospheres are very thick compared to secondary atmospheres like the one found on Earth .
Atmospheric super-rotation is a phenomenon where a planet's atmosphere rotates faster than the planet itself. This behavior is observed in the atmospheres of Venus, Titan, Jupiter, and Saturn. Venus exhibits the most extreme super-rotation, with its atmosphere circling the planet in four Earth days, much faster than the planet's own rotation of ...
The giant planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, became large enough where they were able to hold onto their primary atmosphere that they gained during formation while terrestrial planets, such as Venus and Earth, do not have enough gravity to hold onto the original atmosphere. By being made of rock, they are able to go through geologic processes ...