Planets · Planet
Saturn’s soft golds and greys and its bright icy rings, from Hubble’s visible-light portrait and Webb’s infrared view.
Featured palette: Webb near-infrared view, 25 June 2023 (Sampled from this image)
#806759#0A0704#523524#312015#E8D1C2#C9A188#936447
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Tiscareno (SETI Institute), M. Hedman (University of Idaho), M. El Moutamid (Cornell University), M. Showalter (SETI Institute), L. Fletcher (University of Leicester), H. Hammel (AURA), J. DePasquale (STScI). · released 30 June 2023
About Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet and a gas giant. NASA describes it in shades of yellow, brown and grey. Its main rings, A, B and C, are made of icy particles from dust grains to house-sized chunks, with the Cassini Division between A and B.
| Classification | Planet |
|---|---|
| Orbits | Sun |
| Diameter | 120,536 kmequatorial diameter · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Orbital period | 10,747 daysorbital period around the Sun · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Rotation period | 10.7 hourssidereal rotation period (negative: retrograde) · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Length of day | 10.7 hourslength of a solar day · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Axial tilt | 26.7°obliquity to orbit (axial tilt) · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Mean temperature | -140 °Cmean temperature as defined by the NASA fact sheet (surface or 1-bar level); not comparable with stellar temperatures · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Known moons | 274number of known moons on the access date · as listed on 2026-10-25 · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
| Ring system | Yeshas a ring system · NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |
Why these colours?
In visible light
Hubble’s 2019 portrait gives pale golds and greys for the planet and near-white for the rings.
From: Hubble portrait, 20 June 2019 Visible-light composite
In infrared
Webb sees methane absorption darken the planet while the icy rings shine; the colours are assigned to infrared wavelengths.
From: Webb near-infrared view, 25 June 2023 Mapped non-visible data
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Saturn.
Hubble portrait, 20 June 2019
Sampled from this image · Hubble portrait, 20 June 2019
#ACA5A0RGB 172, 165, 160region average#B5A697RGB 181, 166, 15129% of the region#D9E2E8RGB 217, 226, 23218% of the region#928881RGB 146, 136, 12917% of the region#CEC0ABRGB 206, 192, 17113% of the region#222229RGB 34, 34, 4112% of the region#58575CRGB 88, 87, 9210% of the region
See where these colours came from
Webb near-infrared view, 25 June 2023
Sampled from this image · Webb near-infrared view, 25 June 2023
#806759RGB 128, 103, 89region average#0A0704RGB 10, 7, 435% of the region#523524RGB 82, 53, 3627% of the region#312015RGB 49, 32, 2117% of the region#E8D1C2RGB 232, 209, 1948% of the region#C9A188RGB 201, 161, 1367% of the region#936447RGB 147, 100, 716% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Saturn
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Ringlight
Inspired by this object
#2D2D34RGB 45, 45, 52from #222229#4F4E53RGB 79, 78, 83from #58575C#7A7069RGB 122, 112, 105from #928881#A49586RGB 164, 149, 134from #B5A697#CBBDA8RGB 203, 189, 168from #CEC0AB#E0E9EFRGB 224, 233, 239from #D9E2E8
Saturn’s golds and ring whites spread for a gentle, elegant palette.
Explore the views and the 3D model
Hubble portrait, 20 June 2019Visible-light compositeWebb near-infrared view, 25 June 2023Mapped non-visible dataPick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
Illustrative model An illustrative sphere; its details are drawn from measured colours, not from a map. Bands and ring colours are drawn from colours measured in the Hubble portrait. NASA’s Saturn texture is marked fictional, so it is not used; the banding is illustrative. Objects are enlarged or scaled for inspection unless stated otherwise.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Questions about Saturn’s colours
Is the 3D Saturn a real map?
No. NASA’s Saturn texture is marked fictional, so the model here is illustrative: bands and rings drawn from colours measured in the Hubble portrait.
Sources
- About the Planets — NASA
- Planetary Fact Sheet — Metric — NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive (Metric table, retrieved 2026-10-25 (sha256 42bdc3f1dae470b8…))
- 3D Resources — NASA
- Latest Saturn Portrait — ESA/Hubble
- Saturn’s rings shine in Webb’s observations of ringed planet — ESA/Webb
Image credits
- Hubble portrait, 20 June 2019: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 7c5ed9588561d115783eb00aeeb3a308e416aaa746251f7bcc20965e81ac0537).
- Webb near-infrared view, 25 June 2023: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, M. Tiscareno (SETI Institute), M. Hedman (University of Idaho), M. El Moutamid (Cornell University), M. Showalter (SETI Institute), L. Fletcher (University of Leicester), H. Hammel (AURA), J. DePasquale (STScI). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 cb2f95f0723c36d9ff0144dd27fdd0dcdbbb4807804cb6fa650ea98f5db42434).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision 63e54c6aae25. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.