Astroparticle physicist Sophia Nasr posted a gorgeous photo of Saturn’s north pole, processed to account for a luminance layer. Instead of a reddish hue, it is a breathtaking cerulean blue. Jason Major replicated the results.
EVERYONE: I processed an image PROPERLY!! #Saturn's beautiful blue vortex, taken Apr. 26 by #Cassini during flyby, processed by me! PROUD! ? pic.twitter.com/u1Dt2DO9A6
— Sophia Nasr (@Pharaoness) April 28, 2017
Via DIY Photography:
Cassini has been orbiting Saturn for over a decade now, exploring this planet and taking thousands of images. The final image Sophia Nasr created shows blue color in the center of the vortex, and it’s not fake. It comes as a result of scattering sunlight, and it’s the same phenomenon responsible for the blue sky we see on Earth. The hurricane itself spreads 1,200 miles across, which makes it around twenty times larger than an average hurricane on Earth. And the clouds are swirling around it at 300 mph. Sophia Nasr took three recent images, taken on April 26, 2017, and turned them into realistic color photos.
That’s as exciting as Pluto’s heart!
• These are the first real-color images of Saturn’s polar vortex (DIY Photography)