"Of all the many glorious images we have received from Saturn, none
are more strikingly unusual than those taken from Saturn's shadow," said
Carolyn Porco, Cassini's imaging team lead based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn for more than eight years now, has delivered a glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings. On Oct. 17, 2012, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant,
Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn's shadow, a perfect
location from which to look in the direction of the sun and take a
backlit view of the rings and the dark side of the planet.
Looking back towards the sun is a geometry referred to by planetary
scientists as "high solar phase;" near the center of your target's
shadow is the highest phase possible. This is a very scientifically
advantageous and coveted viewing position, as it can reveal details
about both the rings and atmosphere that cannot be seen in lower solar
phase.
The last time Cassini had such an unusual perspective on Saturn and
its rings, at sufficient distance and with sufficient time to make a
full system mosaic, occurred in September 2006, when it captured a
mosaic, processed to look like natural color, entitled "In Saturn's
Shadow."
In that mosaic, planet Earth put in a special appearance, making "In
Saturn's Shadow" one of the most popular Cassini images to date.
The new processed mosaic, composed of 60 images taken in the violet, visible and near infrared part of the spectrum, can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
Source: The Daily Galaxy
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