Saturn, 24 July, 2021

[astroavani]

First acceptable Saturn of the year. Unfortunately the Moon was very close which makes it lose some of the contrast even so we can easily see the bands on the planet and even the polar hexagon that looks good on the IR photo with its central dark eye.

[markse68]

beautiful images aa. Is Saturn actually an odd shape or is it an optical illusion? It seems slightly flattened between equator and poles in many images?

Mark

[tooth_dr]

1 minute ago, markse68 said:

beautiful images aa. Is Saturn actually an odd shape or is it an optical illusion? It seems slightly flattened between equator and poles in many images?

Mark

It is an oblate spheroid because it spins so fast, it looks flattened out. 

[markse68]

35 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

It is an oblate spheroid because it spins so fast, it looks flattened out. 

yes that makes sense but it looks like a more complex shape- not just squashed. I think it must be an optical illusion caused by the brightness of the rings behind

Mark

[tooth_dr]

28 minutes ago, markse68 said:

yes that makes sense but it looks like a more complex shape- not just squashed. I think it must be an optical illusion caused by the brightness of the rings behind

Mark

I can see what you mean now, maybe a processing anomaly 

[orion25]

I can see it, too, Mark. It might be an illusion caused by the shape of the planet against the rings.

[Pete Presland]

Stunning detail on show as always Avani.