Saturn’s Rings Cast Sexy Halo Atop His Head.
(Click image to enlarge. Via.)
Check out this picture of Saturn and its rings as captured by Cassini. Man, that Cassini is legit. So many delicious pictures. Anyways, did you know you can measure the passage of time on Saturn by the shadows its rings cast? I didn’t either.
This image, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on August 22, 2011, shows the shadows of Saturn’s magnificent ring system on the tops of the planet’s cloud layers. Right now, Saturn is tipping its north pole toward the Sun, so summer is on its way there. But that means winter’s approaching in the southern hemisphere, and shadows get longer.
Saturn’s rings aren’t solid, but composed of countless particles of ice, probably no bigger than a few meters across at most, and the vast majority much smaller. There’s also not just one big ring, but hundreds of thinner ones; from Earth, using small telescopes, they blur into what look like a handful of single rings. Big telescopes hint at the truth, but when you send an actual space probe there you see all those rings in their individual glory.
Here, Cassini was almost in the plane of the rings, so direct details are scarce. But with Sun shining down on them, the rings’ shadows make it very clear that when it comes to Saturn, there’s just no substitute for being there.
Pretty dope.