Cassini Sends Image Showing Rings’ Colors

PASADENA, Calif. – The international Cassini spacecraft sent back a natural-color image of Saturn showing the planet’s rings are shades of pink, gray and a bit of brown, scientists announced Thursday.

The image was taken June 21, a few days before the spacecraft entered orbit, from 4 million miles below the rings.

The rings are mostly ice, which is white if it is pure. Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory believe the different colors reflect the presence of other materials, such as rock or carbon compounds.

Detailed close-ups sent immediately after Cassini entered orbit on June 30 were in black and white. Another vivid set of ring images released previously used infrared photography.

The seven major rings are named A through G, although they are not arrayed in alphabetical order.

The brightest part of the new image is the B ring, a nearly 16,000-mile-wide ring that has many bands with a distinct sandy color.

Color variations in the rings were previously seen by the Hubble Space Telescope and the Voyager spacecraft that flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981. But the variations are more distinct as seen from Cassini, NASA said.

Cassini is the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. The $3.3 billion mission is a joint project of NASA and the European and Italian space agencies.

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On the Net:

JPL Cassini page: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov