In the Shadow of Saturn
Explanation:
In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear.
The
robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn drifted in giant planet's
shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked
back toward the
eclipsed Sun.
Cassini saw a
view unlike any other.
First, the
night side of Saturn
is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own
majestic ring system.
Next, the rings themselves appear dark when
silhouetted against Saturn,
but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn,
slightly scattering sunlight, in this
exaggerated color image.
Saturn's rings light up so much that
new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the
image.
Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's
E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered
ice-fountains of the moon
Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above.
Far in the
distance,
at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable
pale blue dot
of Earth.
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.
