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> Saturn rings and satellites seen by Cassini spacecraft

Saturn rings and satellites seen by Cassini spacecraft

author: Nasa/JPL/SSI/Novapix

reference: a-sat05-10040

Image Size 300 DPI: 12 * 12 cm

From on high, the Cassini spacecraft spies a group of three ring moons in their travels around Saturn. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) is seen at top, while Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) hugs the outer edge of the narrow F ring. More difficult to spot is Pan (26 kilometers, or 16 miles across), which is a mere speck in this view. Pan can be seen in the Encke Gap, near center left. The speck seen between the A and F rings at left is a background star. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 40 degrees above the ringplane. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. Bright clumps of material in the narrow F ring moved in their orbits between each of the color exposures, creating a chromatic misalignment that provides some sense of the continuous motion in the ring system. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Feb. 7, 2008 at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale at the center of the view is 74 kilometers (46 miles) per pixel in the radial, or outward from Saturn, direction.

Keywords for this photo:

2008 - ASTRONOMY - CASSINI - JANUS - PAN - PANDORA - PLANET - RING - SATELLITE - SATURN - SATURN'S MOON -