A pastel crescent of Saturn is interrupted by the moon Mimas and the rings in this color image.
Mimas (396 kilometers, 246 miles across) appears as a dark speck just above the rings. This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 27, 2009 at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 129 kilometers (80 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini Equinox Mission is a joint United States and European endeavor. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini Equinox Mission visit http://ciclops.org, http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Released: January 22, 2010 (PIA 12533)
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PIA 12533
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on some of the monitors here at the library there apears to be a color change just ahead of twilight. a slightly blue arc ahead of the terminator. it may be an artifact of the monitor technology, but it is stiking.
i have to agree with both Red Dragon and Carolyn; the cresent images of Saturn are breathtaking. perhaps part of the magic is those images are something we can never see from "home."
A side Note: Crescent Saturn looks here slightly bluer than seen at the same time as a 'full Saturn' , I suppose. But even here, yellow dominates.
and so much detail in the atmosphere.
Red_dragon: I totally agree. They are among my favorites.
Breathtaking, as usual. Images with a crescent Saturn divided by the rings have a magic others do not have and this one is not an exception. Thanks.
