Dione, Rings, Shadows, Saturn
Explanation:
What's happening in this strange juxtaposition of moon and planet?
First and foremost, Saturn's moon Dione was
captured here
in a dramatic panorama by the robotic
Cassini spacecraft
currently orbiting the giant planet.
The bright and
cratered moon itself
spans about 1100-km, with the large multi-ringed
crater
Evander visible on the lower right.
Since the rings of Saturn are seen here nearly edge-on, they are
directly visible only as a thin horizontal line that
passes behind
Dione.
Arcing across the bottom of
the image, however, are
shadows of Saturn's rings, showing some of the rich texture
that could not be seen directly.
In the background, few cloud features are visible on
Saturn.
The
featured image
was taken during the
last planned flyby of Dione
by Cassini, as the spacecraft is scheduled to
dive
into Saturn's atmosphere
during
2017.
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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.
