PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE 
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY 
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. Telephone (2l3) 354-5011 
  
PHOTO CAPTION                       (TOP)          P-22994C
                                                   Voyager S-1-9 
                                                   10/28/80 
  
     This image of Saturn, taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft on Oct. 18,
1980, was color-enhanced to increase the visibility of large, bright
features in Saturn's North Temperate Belt. It is believed that these spots
might closely resemble gigantic convective storms (similar to, but much
larger than thunderstorms in Earth's atmosphere) with upwelling from deep
within Saturn's atmosphere. The nature of the dark spots like the one
visible on the northern edge of the belt is not yet clearly understood,
though they seem to resemble equally mysterious features seen on Jupiter.
The largest violet-colored cloud belt (its true color is brownish) is
Saturn's North Equatorial Belt. The distinct color difference between
this and other belts and zones may be due to a thicker haze layer covering
the northern portion of the belt. The Southern Hemisphere of the planet
(below the rings) appears bluer than the Northern Hemisphere because of the
increased scattering of sunlight upon that area due to the spacecraft's
point-of-view. Numerous gaps and divisions in the rings are becoming more
apparent as Voyager 1 approches Saturn. The newly discovered dark radial
features in the rings are faintly shown on the lower right portion of the
rings. Three separate Voyager images taken through ultraviolet, green and
violet filters were used to construct this blue, green and red color
composite of Saturn. The lower edge of the rings were "clipped" due to a
slight drift of the spacecraft. Color spots in the rings are an artifact
of image processing. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
  
                              #####