Saturn, edge on

[n2doc]

Saturn in RGB 3-6-11

A color portrait of Saturn, made up of raw image data captured by Cassini on March 6, 2011. The spacecraft was just over 1.99 million miles from Saturn when the images were taken.

Saturn's rings, seen here nearly edge-on, cast their shadows onto the planet's southern equatorial region. One of Saturn's many moons is visible in front of its night side...perhaps Rhea or Tethys.

Also just below the ring shadows near the south-western limb a shadow of another moon can be seen, just a small dark dot upon Saturn's clouds.

Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute. Edited by J. Major.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightsinthedark/5508682378/in/photostream/



A color portrait of Saturn, made up of raw image data captured by Cassini on February 25, 2011. The spacecraft was nearly 1.25 million miles from Saturn when the images were taken.

The giant elongated storm system that first became visible to amateur astronomers on Earth back in December can be seen in the mid-northern latitudes.

The circle at upper left is the approximate size of Earth to scale.

Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute. Edited by J. Major.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightsinthedark/5484425093/in/set-72157624381267708/

[trusty elf]

1. Stunning pictures!

Thanks!