09 September 2007
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
NASA recently published a spectacular image of Saturn, the ringed giant, and two of its big family of moons, acquired by the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. The two moons are in conjunction, shimmering on opposite sides of the planet's graceful rings.
The moon above the rings is Dione (1,126 km across), Saturn's second densest satellite, loaming on the far side of Saturn (approximately 120,000 km across). Tethys (1,071 km across) is visible directly in front of the ringplane.
The view was acquired from less than 1° above the ringplane. The silhouette of the rings overlay the subtle features of Saturn's atmosphere. The expansive shadows of the rings appear as dark bands across the planet's orb.
The image was taken in visible green light with Cassini's wide-angle camera on 29 July 2007. The spacecraft was approximately 3.2 million km from Saturn. Image scale is 188 km per pixel.
Further Reading
Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist