Saturn Zoom

This time-lapse animation of Hubble observations shows the rotation of Saturn and zooms into the planet as it is rotating. As the zoom progresses, the viewer gets a closer look at the atmosphere in motion, including a mysterious hexagonal feature at the north polar cap. The giant planet completes one rotation every 10.5 hours.

This animation consists of 13 individual frames taken over a time span of about 20 hours, or nearly two full rotations of the planet, on June 6, 2018. Each image is a color composite combining observations using the F395N filter in blue, F502N in green, and F631N in red.