NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope have teamed up to capture new views of Saturn, revealing the planet in strikingly different ways. Observing in complementary wavelengths of light, the two space observatories provide scientists with a richer, more layered understanding of the gas giant’s atmosphere.
美国宇航局的詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜和哈勃太空望远镜联手捕捉土星的新视角，以截然不同的方式揭示这颗行星。这两个太空天文台通过互补波长的光进行观测，为科学家们提供了对这颗气态巨行星大气层更丰富、更有层次的了解。
Both sense sunlight reflected from Saturn’s banded clouds and hazes, but where Hubble reveals subtle color variations across the planet, Webb’s infrared view senses clouds and chemicals at many different depths in the atmosphere, from the deep clouds to the tenuous upper atmosphere.
两者都能感知从土星带状云和雾霾反射的阳光，但哈勃望远镜揭示了整个行星的微妙颜色变化，韦伯的红外视图感知了大气中许多不同深度的云和化学物质，从深层云层到稀薄的高层大气。
Together, scientists can effectively ‘slice’ through Saturn’s atmosphere at multiple altitudes, like peeling back the layers of an onion. Each telescope tells a different part of Saturn’s story, and the observations together help researchers understand how Saturn’s atmosphere works as a connected three-dimensional system. Both complement previous observations done by NASA’s Cassini orbiter during its time studying the Saturnian system from 1997 to 2017.
科学家们齐心协力，可以在多个高度有效地“切开”土星的大气层，就像剥洋葱层一样。每台望远镜都讲述了土星故事的不同部分，这些观测结果共同帮助研究人员了解土星大气层如何作为一个相互连接的三维系统发挥作用。两者都补充了美国宇航局卡西尼号轨道飞行器在 1997 年至 2017 年研究土星系统期间所做的观测。
The Hubble image seen here was captured as part of a more than a decade long monitoring program called OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) in August 2024, while the Webb image was captured a few months later using Director’s Discretionary Time .
这里看到的哈勃图像是 2024 年 8 月拍摄的，作为长达十多年的名为 OPAL（外行星大气遗产）的监测计划的一部分，而韦伯图像是在几个月后使用导演自由裁量时间拍摄的。
The newly released images highlight features from Saturn’s busy atmosphere.
新发布的图像突出了土星繁忙气氛的特征。
In the Webb image, a long-lived jet stream known as the “ ribbon wave ” meanders across the northern mid-latitudes, influenced by otherwise undetectable atmospheric waves. Just below that, a small spot represents a lingering remnant from the “ Great Springtime Storm ” of 2010 to 2012. Several other storms dotting the southern hemisphere of Saturn are visible in Webb’s image, as well.
在韦伯图像中，一种被称为“带状波”的长寿急流蜿蜒穿过北部中纬度地区，受到原本无法探测到的大气波的影响。就在其下方，一个小点代表了 2010 年至 2012 年“春季大风暴”挥之不去的残余。韦伯的图像中还可以看到散布在土星南半球的其他几场风暴。
All these features are shaped by powerful winds and waves beneath the visible cloud deck, making Saturn a natural laboratory for studying fluid dynamics under extreme conditions.
所有这些特征都是由可见云层下强大的风和波浪塑造的，使土星成为研究极端条件下流体动力学的天然实验室。
Several of the pointed edges of Saturn’s iconic hexagon-shaped jet stream at its north pole , discovered by NASA’s Voyager spacecraft in 1981, are also faintly visible in both images. It remains one of the solar system’s most intriguing weather patterns. Its persistence over decades highlights the stability of certain large-scale atmospheric processes on giant planets. These are likely the last high-resolution looks we’ll see of the famous hexagon until the 2040’s, as the northern pole enters winter and will shift into darkness for 15 years.
1981 年美国宇航局航行者号宇宙飞船在土星北极发现了标志性的六边形急流，其几个尖边在这两张图像中也依稀可见。它仍然是太阳系最有趣的天气模式之一。它几十年来的持续存在凸显了巨行星上某些大规模大气过程的稳定性。这很可能是我们在 2040 年代之前看到的最后一张高分辨率的著名六边形照片，届时北极将进入冬季，并在长达 15 年的时间里陷入黑暗。
In Webb’s infrared observations, Saturn’s poles appear distinctly grey-green, indicating light emitting at wavelengths around 4.3 microns. This distinct feature could come from a layer of high-altitude aerosols in Saturn’s atmosphere that scatters light differently at those latitudes. Another possible explanation is auroral activity, as charged molecules interacting with the planet’s magnetic field can produce glowing emissions near the poles.
在韦伯的红外观测中，土星的两极呈现明显的灰绿色，表明发射的光波长约为 4.3 微米。这种独特的特征可能来自土星大气层中的一层高空气溶胶，它在这些纬度上以不同的方式散射光线。另一种可能的解释是极光活动，因为带电分子与地球磁场相互作用可以在两极附近产生发光的发射。
NASA’s Hubble and Webb have already explored Saturn’s auroras, provided insights into Jupiter’s spectacular auroras also seen with Hubble , confirmed the auroras of Uranus glimpsed in 2011 by Hubble , and detected Neptune’s auroras for the first time with Webb.
NASA 的哈勃和韦伯已经探索了土星的极光，深入了解了哈勃观测到的木星壮观的极光，证实了哈勃在 2011 年观测到的天王星极光，并首次利用韦伯观测到了海王星的极光。
In Webb’s infrared image, the rings are extremely bright because they are made of highly reflective water ice. In both images, we’re seeing the sunlit face of the rings, a little less so in the Hubble image, hence the shadows visible underneath on the planet.
在韦伯的红外图像中，这些光环非常明亮，因为它们是由高反射率的水冰组成的。在这两张图像中，我们都看到了光环被阳光照射的表面，在哈勃图像中稍微少一些，因此在行星下方可以看到阴影。
There are also subtle ring features such as spokes and structure in the B ring (the thick central region of the rings) that appear differently between the two observatories. The F ring, the outermost ring, looks thin and crisp in the Webb image, while it only slightly glows in the Hubble image.
还有一些微妙的环特征，例如 B 环（环的较厚中心区域）中的辐条和结构，在两个天文台之间表现得有所不同。最外层的 F 环在韦伯图像中看起来又薄又清晰，而在哈勃图像中它只略微发光。
Saturn’s orbit around the Sun, combined with the position of Earth in its annual orbit, determines our changing viewing angle of Saturn’s face and ring.
土星绕太阳的轨道，加上地球在其年度轨道上的位置，决定了我们对土星表面和环的观察角度的变化。
These 2024 observations, taken 14 weeks apart, show the planet moving from northern summer toward the 2025 equinox. As Saturn transitions into southern spring, and later southern summer in the 2030’s, Hubble and Webb will have progressively better views of that hemisphere.
这些 2024 年的观测结果相隔 14 周，显示地球从北夏走向 2025 年春分。随着土星进入南方春季，以及 2030 年代晚些时候的南方夏季，哈勃和韦伯将逐渐更好地观察该半球。
Hubble’s observations of Saturn for decades have built a record of its evolving atmosphere. Programs like OPAL, with its annual monitoring , are allowing scientists to track storms, banding patterns, and seasonal shifts over time. Webb now adds powerful infrared capabilities to this ongoing record, extending what researchers can measure about Saturn’s atmospheric structure and dynamic processes.
哈勃对土星数十年的观测建立了土星大气层演变的记录。像 OPAL 这样的项目及其年度监测，使科学家能够跟踪风暴、带状模式和随时间变化的季节性变化。韦伯现在为这一正在进行的记录添加了强大的红外功能，扩展了研究人员对土星大气结构和动态过程的测量范围。
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜是世界上首屈一指的太空科学天文台。韦伯正在解开太阳系中的谜团，展望其他恒星周围的遥远世界，并探索宇宙的神秘结构和起源以及我们在其中的位置。韦伯是由 NASA 及其合作伙伴 ESA（欧洲航天局）和 CSA（加拿大航天局）领导的一项国际计划。
The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for over three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.
哈勃太空望远镜已经运行了三十多年，并不断做出突破性的发现，塑造我们对宇宙的基本理解。哈勃望远镜是 NASA 和 ESA（欧洲航天局）之间的国际合作项目。美国宇航局位于马里兰州格林贝尔特的戈达德太空飞行中心负责管理望远镜和任务操作。总部位于丹佛的洛克希德·马丁航天公司也支持戈达德的任务运营。位于巴尔的摩的太空望远镜科学研究所由天文学研究大学协会运营，为美国宇航局进行哈勃科学操作。
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