Note the very brigh winter haze seen in UV light on the northern hemisphere. It looks brighter in that wavelength than any part of the planet.
Hi all, please find attached a comparison of various filters used on Saturn this month.
http://www.astrosurf.org/pellier/2006satshortwave-pellier
The images show how the globe becomes darker and darker as the wavelenght shortens. Saturn is covered by a high altitude haze that absorbs strongly in the short wavelenghts, like Jupiter, but much thicker. To the contrary of Jupiter, the near-UV filter might not penetrate the haze as the pattern of belts in visible light is not seen anymore. Note that the W47 filter reproduces a quite dark Saturn globe. This filter is very interesting and is more efficient that classical blue filters, although difficult to use.
The bright winter northern haze follows an opposite behaviour and becomes brighter as the wavelenght shortens.
I think that such filters might reveal long-term seasonal changes on the planet (in a range of years) ; and so a long-term imaging run is valuable.
[Christophe Pellier Bruz City,France]
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