Hi all,

Enclosed are two composite images of Saturn obtained with the Hubble Space
Telescope on Nov 30th (P.I.: R. French). One couple shows the planet in a
"near infrared" filter (814 nm), the second couple shows the same region
in two filters blue (439 nm) and green (555 nm).

A complex group of bright and dark spots are seen around the central
meridian in mid-temperature latitudes. The bright complex (probably a
small convective storm) is centered at -42 deg and 120 deg in System III
(30 Nov; 16:20 hr) and detaches in blue-green. The dark spot series are
well contrasted in red wavelengths (675 - 900 nm). All these features do
Subject: HST-Saturn (30 Nov)

not contrast in violet (shortward of about 350 nm) nor in the methane band
at 890 nm because they are blurred by the thick trapospheric haze. These
features drift at a rate of +0.5 deg/day (at -42 deg) to -3 deg/day (at
-45 deg) and could be captured with ground-based telescopes using the
appropriate filters indicated above. In addition the blue-greens filters
could show also small bright spots at -29 deg drifting at -8 deg/day. All
these drifts are relative to System III.

We urge IOPW members to observe the planet since new HST imaging will be
done the 14th, 16th, 17-18th this month (another series was taken on
Dec. 9th).

Thanks a lot for your support