True Colors

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute, Posted on: Sunday, 16 December 2007, 06:17 CST Download full size image

As seen from the side not illuminated by the Sun, Saturn's thinner rings are highlighted in shades of brown and gold, contrasting with the more neutral appearance of the icy moon Tethys. The A ring and Cassini Division are separated by the optically thick B ring, which does not permit sunlight to penetrate and appears as the broad, dark lane between them in this view.

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up and rotated 35 degrees to the right.

The view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees above the ringplane.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The view was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 29, 2007, at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 21 degrees. Image scale is 12 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.

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