Saturn ninjas its own rings with SHADOWS of DOOM. Or something.

Cassini has been capable of capturing some pretty righteous space pictures as it goes about in the Saturn system. This little bit of lighting awesomeness is only the latest example. Where be the rings, you ask? Double doi! I respond. In the shadow.

io9:

NASA’s Cassini orbiter just beamed back its latest batch of images of Saturn and its various satellites. They are, as usual, gorgeous, but this stunning view of the planet — photographed from below the plane of its rings — really captured our attention. Our immediate reaction: what has become of the planet’s rings?

A split second later and you realize: they’re hidden in the planet’s shadow. But it turns out that’s not the only thing interesting about this photograph. Over at Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait has pointed out several other things that make this view of Saturn particularly noteworthy, including the planet’s wonky F-ring, two barely-perceptible moons, and an awesome astronomical phenomenon known as ring-shine. For details, we leave you in the capable hands of Plait — head over to Bad Astronomy for all the nitty gritty.