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NASA releases a stunning image of Saturn.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn, snapping photos of the gas giant that will offer more insight into it and its moons. The photos the spacecraft has been providing are like nothing ever before taken, and as a crescendo to the magnificent images, NASA has revealed an unprecedented view of Saturn—and our own planet Earth.
“In this one magnificent view, Cassini has delivered to us a universe of marvels,” Carolyn Porco, who leads Cassini’s imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., said of the new image in a statement from NASA. “And it did so on a day people all over the world, in unison, smiled in celebration at the sheer joy of being alive on a pale blue dot.”
The image, which was unveiled on Tuesday Nov. 12, shows Saturn backlit by the sun. All but one of its rings are visible, and several of its moons surround it. Three colored pinpricks also appear the image: Earth, Venus and Mars.
The image is actually comprised of 141 wide-angle photos that Cassini took in natural color. The natural color is supposed to copy what humans would see if we looked at the gas giant close up. The panoramic image stretches 404,880 miles across and shows all but the second outermost of Saturn’s rings.
Cassini had snapped these photos on July 19, 2013, which was the same day Cassini captured a rare image of Earth without the interference of the sun. Saturn had totally eclipsed the sun in the shot, an incredibly unique opportunity to capture yet another completely new perspective of Earth.
In the photo, Earth is the blue dot hanging to Saturn’s lower right. Mars is the faint red dot above and to the right of Venus, which is on the upper left side of Saturn.
This is the Cassini spacecraft’s third mission. Cassini was launched back in 1997 with the mission of exploring Saturn’s systems. The mission was completed in 2008 followed by an extended mission, which concluded in 2010.
The current and second extended mission, called the Cassini Solstice Mission, will go through September 2017. It is named for the Saturnian summer solstice, which will happen in May 2017. The northern summer solstice marks the start of the region’s summer (and southern hemisphere’s winter). Cassini had arrived just after Saturn’s northern winter solstice, so this extended mission will enable Cassini to capture for the first time a complete season on the gas giant.
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