Stunning (Big!) Picture of Saturn at Equinox

[n2doc]

The shadows of Saturn's rings cast onto the planet appear as a thin band at the equator in this image taken as the planet approached its August 2009 equinox.

The novel illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ringplane, significantly darkens the rings, and causes out-of-plane structures to look anomalously bright and to cast shadows across the rings. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after Saturn's equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. Before and after equinox, Cassini's cameras have spotted not only the predictable shadows of some of Saturn's moons (see PIA11657), but also the shadows of newly revealed vertical structures in the rings themselves (see PIA11665). For an earlier view of the rings' wide shadows draped high on the northern hemisphere, see PIA09793.

The planet's southern hemisphere can be seen through the transparent D ring in the lower right of the image. The rings have been brightened by a factor of 9.5 relative to the planet to enhance visibility.

more with bigger versions

http://www.ciclops.org/view/5736/Narrow_Band?js=1

[opihimoimoi]

1. I Love Science...thanks

[Fumesucker]

2. Thanks for my new desktop.. n/t