Stunning Images Taken On Nasa Cassini Spacecraft's Mission To Saturn

Cassini drifted into Saturn’s shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated colour image. Saturn’s rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the image. Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn’s E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/picture-galleries/10129199/Stunning-images-taken-on-Nasa-Cassini-spacecrafts-mission-to-Saturn.html?frame=2594172

Nasa’s Cassini spacecraft will take a picture of Earth from a distance of hundreds of millions of miles on July 19, 2013. We take a look back at some of the images the spacecraft has sent back to Earth on its incredible mission into space. Above, the Cassini spacecraft sent back this image on August 29, 2012 of Saturn’s indigo and ochre hues undergoing a seasonal change. When Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004, the planet’s northern hemisphere was bathed in azure blue, but as the years have passed, spring has begun in the Northern hemisphere. The blue has begun to fade, migrating south where winter is fast approaching, as shown in this natural-colour image of the gas giant and its largest moon Titan.

Cassini spacecraft tracks the aftermath of a massive storm on Saturn (Top Left)

On Oct. 5, 2008, just after coming within 25 kilometers (15.6 miles) of the surface of Enceladus, Nasa’s Cassini captured this stunning mosaic as the spacecraft sped away from this geologically active moon of Saturn.

Saturn eclipse – Cassini orbiter spacecraft, 2006