History of Hubble Space Telescope (HST)

A CLOSER LOOK

Astronomers are studying the unusual appearance of Saturn's rings. The top portion of this Hubble Space Telescope snapshot shows Saturn with its rings barely visible. Normally, astronomers see Saturn with its rings tilted, but because the Earth was almost in the plane of Saturn's rings, they appear edge-on. Positioned above the ring plane, the Sun is causing the rings to cast a shadow on Saturn. The bottom photograph shows Saturn with its rings slightly tilted, and displays a faint narrow ring, the F-ring, just outside the main ring, which is normally invisible from Earth. The moon called Dion, on the lower right, is casting a long, thin shadow across the whole ring system due to the setting of the sun on the ring plane.

Explore NASA's original image record for credits and available downloads.