A Ravishing View of Saturn’s Rings

by | Oct 14, 2006 | Outer Solar System | 4 comments

This image is simply too beautiful not to run for the weekend, even though it’s getting play everywhere. The Sun is, of course, behind Saturn, backlighting the rings to reveal hitherto unseen detail.

Saturn's rings during occultation

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Gorgeous as it is, bear in mind that this is a composite in which the colors have been exaggerated. 165 Cassini images went into its production, taken with the spacecraft’s wide-angle camera over a three hour stretch on September 15. Ultraviolet, infrared and clear filter images went into the composite, which was then adjusted to get as close to natural color as possible. Much good science is coming out of these observations, but for now absorb the beauty of the scene, surely a view that will stand as one of Cassini’s defining moments.

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4 Comments

  1. Maastrichian on October 15, 2006 at 11:52

    Composite or not, this shot is one of the most beautiful actual images that I’ve seen in recent years. It is so nice that I actually largely ignored it for the first couple of days that it was being circulated, thinking that it was just another artistic rendering!

  2. Administrator on October 15, 2006 at 15:41

    Agreed. I keep coming back to it and just shaking my head at the enchantment of the scene.

  3. Adam on October 17, 2006 at 9:34

    Cassini was the first astronomer to skein the true nature of the rings wasn’t he? Or was it Huygens? It’s an amazing view – imagine the young minds that’d be stirred if it was a big poster in a school classroom. What a time we are in! I just hope we survive it.

  4. Robin Goodfellow on November 4, 2006 at 3:34

    Also, that little dot, just to the left of the main rings, that’s Earth.

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In Centauri Dreams, Paul Gilster looks at peer-reviewed research on deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities. For many years this site coordinated its efforts with the Tau Zero Foundation. It now serves as an independent forum for deep space news and ideas. In the logo above, the leftmost star is Alpha Centauri, a triple system closer than any other star, and a primary target for early interstellar probes. To its right is Beta Centauri (not a part of the Alpha Centauri system), with Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon Crucis, stars in the Southern Cross, visible at the far right (image courtesy of Marco Lorenzi).

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