07 June 2007
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
NASA recently published a spectacular image of Saturn, acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. The captivating scene is a magnificent interplay of light and shadow of Saturn and its graceful rings.
The spacecraft was looking on the dark side of the rings, which were glowing in scattered sunlight passing through the ringplane. Little light passes through the B ring, Saturn's densest ring. Saturn is visible through the tenuous C ring, the faint, nearly transparent inner ring. Due to its transparency, the C ring is also known as the Crepe Ring.
The curved shadows of the rings cross Saturn's northern hemisphere. The southern hemisphere of the planet's night-side is illuminated by sunlight reflected off the rings. The night-side northern hemisphere is also lit feebly by the visible face of the rings.
Saturn's immense shadow stretches across the ringplane toward right. Several of Saturn's small inner moons are visible as white dots in the image. From top to bottom, these moons are Mimas (397 km across), Pandora (84 km across), and Epimetheus (116 km across).
The image was taken in green light with Cassini's wide-angle camera on 13 April 2007. The spacecraft was approximately 1.9 million km from Saturn. Image scale is 107 km per pixel. Cassini was looking toward the rings from about 19° above the ringplane.
Further Reading
Breathtaking Saturn
http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/News_Details.aspx?id=213
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem