Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

 

NASA recently published a superb image of Saturn, acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. It is a view of the entire Saturnian ring system, showing both sides of the magnificent rings.

 

The exposure time was so adjusted to detect the dark side of the rings; therefore, the dayside of the planet is overexposed.

 

Along Saturn's terminator, the dividing line between day and night, colorful details can be seen in twilight glow. Bright clouds are visible in the northern polar region. In the southern hemisphere, the planet's night side is illuminated in golden hue, due to sunlight reflected off the rings' sunlit side.

 

The giant planet's immense shadow obscures part of the rings.   

 

The natural-color picture is a mosaic of 12 separate sets of images taken in red, green and blue filters, on 19 January 2007, when Cassini surveyed the main rings from a vantage point, about 40 degrees above the ringplane.

 

Cassini was approximately 1.23 million km from Saturn.

 

Further reading

A Girded Crescent

http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/News_Details.aspx?id=206

A Dive in Saturn's Shadow

http://www.bibalex.org/eclipse2006/News_Details.aspx?id=202

 

Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem

Senior Astronomy Specialist