Expanse of Ice
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute · Download full size image
October 15, 2007
A scan across Saturn's incredible halo of ice rings yields a study in precision and order.
This natural color mosaic was acquired by the Cassini spacecraft as it soared 39 degrees above the unilluminated side of the rings.
Major named gaps are labeled at the top. The main rings themselves, along with the F ring, are labeled at the bottom, along with their inner and outer boundaries.
This mosaic was constructed from narrow-angle camera images taken immediately after the wide-angle camera mosaic On the Final Frontier. Radial features can be seen in the rings that are about ten times smaller than in the wide-angle view. This scan is rotated 180 degrees compared to On the Final Frontier in order to present the rings with distance from Saturn increasing left to right.
The view combines 45 images -- 15 separate sets of red, green and blue images -- taken over the course of about 2.5 hours, as Cassini scanned across the rings.
The images in this view were obtained on May 9, 2007, at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale in the radial (horizontal) direction is about 6 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. Posted on: 12 Nov, 2007
- Mariner 4 -- Mars
- Mariner 6 & 7 -- Mars
- Mariner 9 -- Mars
- Mariner 10 -- Mercury
- Viking to Mars
- Magellan to Venus
- Mars Pathfinder
- Deep Space 1
- Mars Climate Orbiter
- Mars Polar Lander
- Sputnik
- Explorer
- Vanguard
- Cassini/Huygens Mission
- Clementine Moon Mapping
- Galileo
- Genesis
- Giotto ESA
- Lunar Orbiter
- Lunar Prospector
- Mars Global Surveyor
- 2001 Mars Odyssey
- Mars 96 (Russian)
- NEAR
- Nozomi to Mars (JAPAN)
- Mars Phobos (Russian)
- Pioneer to Venus
- Pioneer 10
- Pioneer 11
- Ranger Lunar Mission
- Sakigake Comet Halley
- Suisei Comet Halley
- Surveyor Moon Mapping
- Ulysses
- Vega 1 (Russia)
- Vega 2 (Russia)
- Venera to Venus (Russian)
- Voyager
- Zond Soviet Lunar Missions
- Mars Exploration Rover - Spirit
- Mars Exploration Rover - Opportunity
- Mars Express
- Mars Rovers - Artwork
- Mars Rovers - Spacecraft
- Deep Impact
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Stardust
- Venus Express
- STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory)
- Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (HiRISE)
- New Horizons
- STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) 3-D Sun Images
- MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)
- MESSENGER
- MODIS Image Of The Day Archive
- Phoenix Mars Lander
- Chandrayaan-1
- Kepler
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
- Cassini-Huygens (ESA)
Latest Thoughts
-
Dec 5, 2009, 9:46 am
Wiring the Wilderness
-
Dec 5, 2009, 9:33 am
Wii: Helping Burn Victims to Heal
-
Dec 5, 2009, 9:06 am
Scientists: Fruit Juice Can Be Worse Than Soda
-
Dec 5, 2009, 8:39 am
Study: Simple Daily Activities Can Decrease Waistlines
-
Dec 5, 2009, 8:20 am
Exercise Can Keep You Young at Heart
-
Dec 5, 2009, 8:10 am
New Trend: Offbeat Plastic Surgery
- More Videos
RSS Feeds