Shadow Dance: Cassini Captures Dramatic Panorama of Saturn Backlit by the Sun
The giant planet Saturn looks a bit like a delicate Christmas ornament in a new photomosaic released by NASA.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Join Our Community of Science Lovers!
The giant planet Saturn looks a bit like a delicate Christmas ornament in a new photomosaic released by NASA.
The Cassini orbiter, currently exploring Saturn and its moons, snapped the 60 images that would become the mosaic in October, as the spacecraft swung through the planet's shadow. At the time Cassini was beneath the plane of the rings. The result is an enhanced-color panorama of the giant world and its rings, backlit by the sun against the blackness of space. The shadow of Saturn itself can be seen as a dark crescent shape cast across the plane of the rings. Just below and to the left of the rings are two white dots: Saturn's moons Enceladus and Tethys.
"Of all the many glorious images we have received from Saturn, none are more strikingly unusual than those taken from Saturn's shadow," Cassini's imaging team lead Carolyn Porco of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., said in a prepared statement.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
—John Matson
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
