Photos Of Saturn At Equinox

in Space by Tajuddin — October 24, 2009 at 12:14 | 0 comments | 3,639 views |

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Checking in with NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, our current emissary to Saturn, some 1.5 billion kilometers (932 million miles) distant from Earth, we find it recently gathering images of the Saturnian system at equinox. During the equinox, the sunlight casts long shadows across Saturn’s rings, highlighting previously known phenomena and revealing a few never-before seen images.

From 20 degrees above the ring plane,  moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun’s disk was exactly overhead at the planet’s equator. The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, at a distance of approximately 847,000 km (526,000 mi) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Cassini captured this image of a dimly lit Titan as Saturn’s largest moon was eclipsed by the planet on May 7, 2009. Stars in this image are smeared by the long camera exposure time of 560 seconds needed to capture the faint light on Titan. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

This series of images of Janus, one of Saturns’s smaller moons, shows strips of light and shadow passing over its face.  Photos taken on August 27, 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

The moon Prometheus and its nearby disturbance of Saturn’s F ring. Prometheus. The image was taken in visible light at a distance of approximately 950,000 km (590,000 mi) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Cassini eyes a prominent crater on the moon Janus. This view was acquired on July 26, 2009 at a distance of approximately 98,000 kilometers (61,000 miles) from Janus. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Rays of light from the sun have taken many different paths to compose this image of Saturn and its rings. The planet’s shadow cuts across the rings, but light reflected off the southern hemisphere backlights parts of the C ring, making them visible in silhouette. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

A view of Saturn’s moon Tethys and its cratered surface, taken by Cassini on October 14, 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Jagged looking shadows stretch away from vertical structures of ring material created by the moon Daphnis, a bright dot (8 km, or 5 mi across) casting a thin shadow just to the left of the center of the image. This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 26, 2009, at a distance of approximately 823,000 km (511,000 mi) from Daphnis. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Another view of waves in the edges of the Keeler gap in Saturn’s A ring, created by the embedded moon Daphnis.  (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

A close view of the surface of Saturn’s large moon Rhea, as Cassini passes by on October 13, 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

The gravity of potato-shaped Prometheus (86 km, or 53 mi across) periodically creates streamer-channels in the F ring. from approximately 922,000 km (573,000 mi) from Saturn. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

An unusual-looking moon shadow crosses Saturn’s rings. The shadow appears to ‘skip’ certain ring bands in a photo taken looking at the unlit side of Saturn’s rings. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Two sources of light illuminate the textured surface of the moon Enceladus. On the right of the image, sunlight bathes the anti-Saturn side of this geologically active moon. The image was taken on July 26, 2009, at a distance of approximately 199,000 kilometers (124,000 miles) from Enceladus. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

The shadow of Saturn’s moon Mimas dips onto the planet’s rings and straddles the Cassini Division in this natural color image taken as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters.  (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Cassini captured this image of a small object in the outer portion of Saturn’s B ring casting a shadow on the rings as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox, on July 26, 2009.  (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Cassini looks down on the north pole of Titan, showing night and day in the northern hemisphere of Saturn’s largest moon. The images were obtained on June 6, 2009 at a distance of approximately 194,000 km (121,000 mi) from Titan. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Plumes of tiny ice particles being ejected from the surface of the moon Enceladus are visible in the scattered sunlight in this image, acquired by Cassini on October 13, 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

A big shadow from Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, darkens the planet in the lower right of this image taken shortly after Saturn’s August 2009 equinox.  (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Saturn’s moon Tethys passes between Cassini and distant Titan in this image acquired on October 17, 2009. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

Cassini looks closely at the outer B ring and the Cassini Division, revealing clump-like structures in the outer edge of the B ring.  (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

This animated series of images of Saturn’s F Ring was acquired by Cassini on June 10, 2009. Shepherd moons Prometheus (inner) and Pandora (outer) pass by, alternately smoothing and disturbing the particles that make up the ring. Kinks, knots, wakes and disturbances are apparent in the thin ring as it rotates.

The shadow of the moon Mimas has just slipped off Saturn’s rings and onto the planet in this Cassini spacecraft image. The shadow is visible as a short dash below the rings’ shadows on the planet. At this exposure setting, the rings are too dim to be seen easily.

Saturn’s large moon Tethys appears before Saturn’s rings and a smaller moonlet on October 16, 2009.

Tags: equinox, equinox mission, NASA, Saturn at Equinox, space photos