Monday, December 29, 2008

The Night Side of Saturn


Picture Credit: NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory,Voyager Project

Explanation: This image of Saturn was made in November 1980 by the Voyager 1 spacecraft as it flew past the ringed gas giant planet. From a spectacular vantage point, looking back toward the inner solar system, the robot spacecraft recorded this view of the night side of Saturn casting a sharp shadow across the bright rings. No Earth based telescope could ever take a similar picture. Since Earth is closer to the sun than Saturn, only the day side of the planet is visible from the Earth.

July 5, 1995

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