Space / 2017-04-03
Sliver of Saturn
NASA's image library records Sliver of Saturn.
Although only a sliver of Saturn's sunlit face is visible in this view, the mighty gas giant planet still dominates the view. From this vantage point just beneath the ring plane, the dense B ring becomes dark and essentially opaque, letting almost no light pass through. But some light reflected by the planet passes through the less dense A ring, wh
A CLOSER LOOK
Although only a sliver of Saturn's sunlit face is visible in this view, the mighty gas giant planet still dominates the view. From this vantage point just beneath the ring plane, the dense B ring becomes dark and essentially opaque, letting almost no light pass through. But some light reflected by the planet passes through the less dense A ring, which appears above the B ring in this photo. The C ring, silhouetted just below the B ring, lets almost all of Saturn's reflected light pass right through it, as if it were barely there at all. The F ring appears as a bright arc in this image, which is visible against both the backdrop of Saturn and the dark sky. This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 7 degrees below the ring plane. The image was taken in green light
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FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
NASA Image and Video LibrarySliver of SaturnOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.