Contains:  Solar system body or event
Saturn and the Seeliger Effect during the 2019 Opposition, David Duarte

Saturn and the Seeliger Effect during the 2019 Opposition

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging
Saturn and the Seeliger Effect during the 2019 Opposition, David Duarte

Saturn and the Seeliger Effect during the 2019 Opposition

Acquisition type: Lucky imaging

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Description

This image illustrates very well the Seeliger effect produced by the rings of Saturn when the planet is very near or at its opposition: when the Sun, the Earth and Saturn are aligned, with Saturn opposed to the Sun in relation to our world. It is possible to see that there is no shadow cast by the planet on its rings, and that the rings are particularly bright (in fact, very bright!), including the C ring, which is difficult to see in other occasions. The Seeliger effect “is the brightening of a rough surface, or an object with many particles, when illuminated from directly behind the observer” (Antilla and Pykko, 1972, apud Wikipedia).

The atmospheric conditions were nearly perfect, with good transparency and good seeing, allowing to distinguish zonal bands on Saturn’s atmosphere, from a bright equatorial region to its hexagonal polar shape. The Cassini and Encke divisions on the rings are also discernible.

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Saturn and the Seeliger Effect during the 2019 Opposition, David Duarte