Latest Saturnian Eye Candy from Cassini

By Nancy Atkinson - April 25, 2011 at 7:24 PM UTC | Planetary Science
saturn-divided-by-moons.jpg

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Two moons and Saturn's rings create a lopsided "divided by" symbol on the giant planet in one of the latest images released by the Cassini science team. The rings also cast shadows and darken the southern hemisphere of the planet. The moon Tethys (1,062 kilometers, or 660 miles across) sits above the rings, while the smaller moon Epimetheus (113 kilometers, or 70 miles across) hovers below. This image was taken by Cassini's narrow-angle camera on March 8, 2011. See below for a few more recent looks at Saturn.

[caption id="attachment_85114" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="The moon Prometheus sits amid Saturn's rings. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="attachment_85115" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="A dark Saturn with rings and shadows. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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Check out more images on the

Cassini website.

There are some brand new images in the

"raw image"

section, including some great looks at

Titan.

And look for more great images of Titan soon, as Cassini's next close flyby of Saturn's largest moon will be on May 8.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com