11/10/2022 0 Comments Nasa picture of the day panoramicAt the 11 o'clock position in between the F ring and the G ring, Janus (111 miles, or 179 kilometers, across) appears as a faint black dot. Pandora and Prometheus are shepherd moons and gravitational interactions between the ring and the moons keep the F ring narrowly confined. On the opposite side of the rings, just outside the F ring, Pandora (50 miles, or 81 kilometers, across) can be seen as a bright white dot. Prometheus (53 miles, or 86 kilometers, across) is visible as a faint black dot just inside the F ring and at the 9 o'clock position. The moons Prometheus, Pandora, Janus and Epimetheus are also visible in the mosaic near Saturn's bright narrow F ring. Mimas appears, upon close inspection, as a very thin crescent because Cassini is looking mostly at its non-illuminated face. Continuing to about the 2 o'clock position is a dark pixel just outside of the G ring this dark pixel is Saturn's Death Star moon, Mimas (246 miles, or 396 kilometers, across). Tethys is positioned on the illuminated side of Saturn its icy surface is shining brightly from yellow sunlight reflected by Saturn. Farther inward, we see the very bright F ring closely encircling the main rings of Saturn.įollowing the outermost E ring counter-clockwise from Enceladus, the moon Tethys (662 miles, or 1,066 kilometers, across) appears as a large yellow orb just outside of the E ring. Interior to the G ring, near the 11 o'clock position, one can barely see the more diffuse ring created by the co-orbital moons, Janus (111 miles, or 179 kilometers, across) and Epimetheus (70 miles, or 113 kilometers, across). The next narrow and easily seen ring inward is the G ring. (For more on structures like Pallene's ring, see Moon-Made Rings). Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers, across) and the extended plume formed by its jets are visible, embedded in the E ring on the left side of the mosaic.Īt the 12 o'clock position and a bit inward from the E ring lies the barely discernible ring created by the tiny, Cassini-discovered moon, Pallene (3 miles, or 4 kilometers, across). The geysers erupting from the south polar terrain of the moon Enceladus supply the fine icy particles that comprise the E ring diffraction by sunlight gives the ring its blue color. The outermost ring shown here is Saturn's E ring, the core of which is situated about 149,000 miles (240,000 kilometers) from Saturn. This image spans about 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across. A brightened version with contrast and color enhanced, a version with just the planets annotated, and an unannotated version are also available. Images taken using the red, green and blue spectral filters of the wide-angle camera were combined and mosaicked together to create this natural-color view. This final mosaic uses 141 of those wide-angle images. With both Cassini's wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras aimed at Saturn, Cassini was able to capture 323 images in just over four hours. This mosaic is special as it marks the third time our home planet was imaged from the outer solar system the second time it was imaged by Cassini from Saturn's orbit and the first time ever that inhabitants of Earth were made aware in advance that their photo would be taken from such a great distance. They acquired a panoramic mosaic of the Saturn system that allows scientists to see details in the rings and throughout the system as they are backlit by the sun. With the sun's powerful and potentially damaging rays eclipsed by Saturn itself, Cassini's onboard cameras were able to take advantage of this unique viewing geometry. On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings - and, in the background, our home planet, Earth.
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