Methane gas absorbs almost all the sunlight falling on the atmosphere at this picture’s specific infrared wavelength (3.23 microns). As a result, Saturn’s familiar striped patterns aren’t visible because the methane-rich upper atmosphere blocks our view of the primary clouds. Instead, Saturn’s disk appears dark, and we see features associated with high-altitude stratospheric aerosols, including large, dark, and diffuse structures in Saturn’s northern hemisphere that don’t align with the planet’s lines of latitude. Unlike Saturn's atmosphere, its rings lack methane, so at this infrared wavelength, they are no darker than usual and thus easily outshine the darkened planet.
those rings. How amazing is it that we JUST SO HAPPEN to exist in the teeny tiny time frame that they even exist? To us pitiful humans, the rings of Saturn are eternal. But in reality they are but a blink in the existence of the planet itself.
Cassini reports they are between 10 - 100 million yrs old and will be gone in another 300 million yrs. So lets average that out at 350 million years lifespan.
Saturn is 4.6 billion years old. We just happen to be around for the show.
Looking at this, don't you feel a little pang in the heart at the thought that the Cassini mission ran its' course, that we no longer are a presence within the Saturn system.
Saturn is beautiful. I remember as a kid with a very small telescope in my backyard, I was able to see the rings of Saturn. This and Jupiter's 4 moons hooked me as young backyard stargazer. We've come a long way.
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