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Credit & Copyright: Damian Peach/SEN
Explanation:
On Saturn, the rings tell you the season.
On Earth, today marks a
solstice, the time when the
Earth's spin axis
tilts directly toward the Sun.
On Earth's northern hemisphere, today is the
Summer Solstice,
the day of maximum daylight.
Since Saturn's grand rings orbit along the planet's
equator,
these rings appear
most prominent -- from the direction of the Sun --
when the Saturn's spin axis points toward the Sun.
Conversely, when Saturn's spin axis points to the side, an
equinox occurs and the
edge-on rings are
hard to see.
In the featured montage,
images of Saturn
over the past 11 years have been superposed to show the
giant planet
passing from southern summer toward northern summer.
Although Saturn will only reach its northern summer solstice in
2017 May,
the image of Saturn most analogous to today's Earth solstice is the bottommost one.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Saturn - Saturn rings - solstice - seasons
Publications with words: Saturn - Saturn rings - solstice - seasons
See also: