11 December 2007
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
NASA recently published a fantastic image of Saturn, the colorful ringed giant, and four of its icy moons. The image was acquired by NASA’s Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft.
The Saturnian system is, in many respects, a laboratory for investigating planetary formation and evolution.
Saturn’s rings shine feebly in scattered sunlight. Tethys (1,071 km across), the largest moon in the view, is on the far side of the ringplane. Mimas (397 km across), is the one on the near side of the rings, below Tethys. Janus (181 km across), is left of the rings' edge. Tiny Pandora (84 km across) is a speck below the rings' edge, between Janus and Mimas. Mimas’ shadow is visible as a pale dark dot on Saturn's bluish northern hemisphere.
This view looks toward the dark side of the rings from about 2º above the ringplane.
Images taken in red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to produce this natural color view. The view was acquired with Cassini’s wide-angle camera on 30 October 2007. The view was taken at a distance of approximately 2.6 million km from Saturn. Image scale is 153 km per pixel on the planet.
Further Reading
The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist