XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.astro   
   From: del@branta.demon.co.uk   
      
   On Fri, 21 Jan 2005, in sci.space.tech,   
   Hop David  said:   
      
   >John Schilling wrote:   
   >>>When they going to take a look at the surface of Saturn?   
   >>   If that wasn't a troll or a joke that went right over my head, the   
   >> answer is that Saturn doesn't have a surface.   
      
   >I am guessing by "surface" Rodney means cloud tops 60,270 km from   
   >Saturn's center.   
   >   
   >There've been lots of pics of Saturn's rings and moons but, come to   
   >think of it, haven't seen many close-ups of Saturn.   
      
   Saturn has a haze above the cloud tops that makes pictures of it less   
   interesting from both an aesthetic and a scientific point of view.  It's   
   why you get those spectacular marbled images from Jupiter and just a few   
   shots of pale streaky Saturn.   
      
   It's a good thing for its self-esteem that it has those gorgeous rings,   
   really :-)  Just think what a dull yellow orb it would be otherwise.   
      
   Uranus and Neptune make a similar pair: quiet Uranus and swirly   
   blue-onyx Neptune, with Uranus redeemed by its unusual polar orientation   
   (when seen at the right time of "year").  ISTR the appearance is again   
   mostly an effect of high-level haze, although Uranus actually is   
   genuinely less active than Neptune.   
      
   --   
   Del Cotter   
   Thanks to the recent increase in UBE, I will soon be ignoring email   
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