Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/J. Major
Explanation: Humanity's robot orbiting Saturn has recorded yet another amazing view. That robot, of course, is the
spacecraft Cassini, while the new amazing view includes a
bright moon,
thin rings,
oddly broken clouds, and
warped shadows.
Titan, Saturn's largest moon,
appears above as a featureless tan as it is continually shrouded in thick clouds. The
rings of Saturn are seen as a thin line because they are so flat and imaged nearly edge on. Details of Saturn's rings are therefore best visible in the
dark ring shadows seen across the giant planet's cloud tops. Since the ring
particles orbit in the same plane as Titan, they appear to skewer the foreground moon. In the upper hemisphere of Saturn, the clouds show many details, including
dips in long bright bands indicating disturbances in a high altitude jet stream. Recent precise measurements of how much Titan
flexes as it orbits Saturn hint that
vast oceans of water
might exist deep underground.
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