Behind Saturn
Explanation:
What's behind Saturn?
The first answer is the camera itself, perched on the
Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting behind the planet with the
most grand ring system in our Solar System.
The unusual perspective places
Cassini on the far side of Saturn from the Sun so that more than half of Saturn
appears dark -- a perspective that no Earth-based observer could achieve.
Behind Saturn, in the context of the
featured infrared image,
is Saturn's moon Tethys, visible as the small speck above the unusual
hexagonal cloud pattern that encompasses Saturn's North
Pole.
Tethys actually orbits Saturn right in the ring plane,
which places the 1000-km moon much farther from
Cassini than the planet itself.
Cassini has been
studying Saturn and its moons for 12 years, but, unfortunately,
its amazing mission will soon come to an end.
In order to
protect life that may exist on or inside Saturn's moons, the robotic spacecraft
will be directed to
crash into Saturn's thick atmosphere next September.
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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.
