11/7/80 7.5 million km (4.6 million mi)
Two brown ovals, approximately 10,000 kilometers (6000 miles) across, were discovered in Saturn’s northern hemisphere, at about 40 degrees and 60 degrees latitude. The polar oval (upper left) has a structure similar to Saturn’s red oval located in the southern polar latitudes. Detail within the ovals is not visible at this resolution, so it is not yet known if they are rotating features similar to the many spots in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
The Rings
11/12/80 717,000 km (444,000 mi)
The rings of Saturn have amazed and intrigued astronomers for over 300 years. Now that we have seen them up close, they are even more astonishing. Although they stretch over 65,000 kilometers (40,000 miles), they may be only a few kilometers thick. The ring particles—from a few microns to a meter (three feet) in size—have been described as icy snowballs or ice-covered rock. Voyager scientists continue to pore over their data, searching for answers to the puzzles of the rings. The rings were named in order of their discovery, so the labels do not indicate their relative positions. From the planet outward, they are known as D, C, B, A, F, and E.
10/25/80 24 million km (15 million mi)
Extraordinarily complex structure is seen across the entire span of Saturn’s ring system. The sequence (taken approximately every 15 minutes as Voyager 1 approached Saturn) proceeds from top to bottom in each column and shows radial “spokes” rotating within the B-Ring. The spokes may be caused by a combination of magnetic and electrostatic forces.
