Cassini spacecraft photographs four Saturnian satellites

NASA's prolific Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, snapped a portrait of four Saturnian moons at once in July .

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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NASA's prolific Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, snapped a portrait of four Saturnian moons at once in July. Epimetheus, Janus and Prometheus appear as a cluster on the left side of Cassini's view, and the smaller Atlas is just visible toward the right, against the giant planet's rings. The Cassini image was taken by the spacecraft's narrow-angle camera in visible light.

Saturn has a wealth of natural satellites—more than 60 have been discovered—which allows for the occasional photo op with multiple moons. In 2009 the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope captured a full-color snapshot of four other Saturnian moons—Titan, Mimas, Dione and Enceladus—passing in front of the ringed planet.

More Cassini photographs are available at the Web site of the mission's imaging team.

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