In the Company of Dione
The robotic Cassini spacecraft took this image during a flyby of Saturn's cratered Moon last month. Perhaps what makes this image so interesting, though, is the background. First, the large orb looming behind Dione is Saturn itself, faintly lit by sunlight first reflected from the rings.
Next, the thin lines running diagonally across the image are the rings of Saturn themselves. The millions of icy rocks that compose Saturn's spectacular rings all orbit Saturn in the same plane, and so appear surprisingly thin when seen nearly edge-on.
Front and center, Dione appears in crescent phase, partially lit by the Sun that is off to the lower left. A careful inspection of the ring plane should also locate the moon Enceladus on the upper right.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Photo and explanation via APOD
#nasa #space #dione #saturn #enceladus
Love it. Serene. Remote. Austerely monochromatic. Alien and yet in our backyard. Clean geometric and yet pocked and craggy. A great example of how the universe dramatically uses negative space.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I see pictures from Cassini I'm also reminded of one the great STEM women (and a very cool human) Carolyn Porco. Slight tangent, but fairly related, here she is talking about Saturn, Cassini and about Rationalism (presentation at Beyond Belief):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdfAM9lz2nc