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Saturn's ring shadows appear wrapped in a harmonious symphony with the planet in this color view from the Cassini spacecraft. Saturn and its rings would nearly fill the space between Earth and the Moon. Yet, despite their great breadth, the rings are a few meters thick and, in some places, very translucent. This image shows a view through the C ring, which is closest to Saturn, and through the Cassini division, the 4,800-kilometer-wide gap (2,980-miles) that arcs across the top of the image and separates the optically thick B ring from the A ring. The part of the atmosphere seen through the gap appears darker and more bluish due to scattering at blue wavelengths by the cloud-free upper atmosphere. The different colors in Saturn's atmosphere are due to particles whose composition is yet to be determined. This image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on July 30, 2004, at a distance of 7.6 million kilometers (4.7 million miles) from Saturn. Related Links Cassini-Huygens mission at JPL Cassini imaging team SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Saturn's Family Portrait
Moffett Field CA (SPX) Sep 14, 2004A stately Saturn poses for a portrait with five of its moons in this Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera view. Satellites visible in this image are (clockwise from upper left): Dione (1,118 kilometers or 695 miles wide), Enceladus (499 kilometers or 310 miles wide), Tethys (1,060 kilometers or 659 miles wide), Mimas (398 kilometers or 247 miles wide) and Rhea (1,528 kilometers or 949 miles wide). |
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