Saturn At Night
Explanation:
From a
spectacular
vantage point over 1.4
billion kilometers
from the sun, the
Voyager 1
spacecraft looked back toward the inner solar system to record
this startling view of Saturn's nightside.
The picture was taken on November 16, 1980, some four days after
the robot spacecraft's closest approach to the
gorgeous gas giant.
The crescent planet
casts a broad shadow across its bright rings
while the translucent rings themselves can be seen to cast a
shadow on Saturn's
cloud tops.
Since Earth is closer to the sun than
Saturn, only Saturn's dayside is visible
to Earth-bound
telescopes
which could never take a picture like this one.
After this
successful flyby two decades ago, Voyager 1 has
continued outward bound and is presently humanity's most
distant spacecraft.
The next spacecraft to approach Saturn will be
Cassini,
on course to arrive in 2004.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
