Saturn on August 3rd, 2023, an excellent night with steady seeing conditions.
We often associate Saturn as a planet with clean, uninterrupted cloud bands surrounded by pristine rings. However, look closely at the atmosphere and you will often find bright storms embedded in the bands. These storms are driven by the planet's internal heat left over from its formation around 4.5 billion years ago, the same process driving Jupiter's dynamic atmosphere. However, being less than a third of the mass of its larger neighbor leads to a few notable differences in the atmospheres of both planets. The cooler core of Saturn fuels storms that are typically smaller and less frequent while its weaker gravity compresses the atmosphere less, leading to a thicker layer of haze between the cloud-tops and us.
The B Ring, the brightest and widest of the rings, can have subtle dark features known as spokes visible within several years of a Saturnian equinox. They are thought to be caused by the magnetosphere of Saturn temporarily pulling microscopic dust particles away from the ring.
Alongside the normal image I have included a short time-lapse that should help with seeing several spots in the atmosphere, a ring spoke on the right side of the image, and possibly two small ones on the left.
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