Dernier portrait des anneaux de Saturne par Cassini
How should Cassini say farewell to Saturn?
Three days before
plunging into Saturn's sunny side,
the robotic Cassini spacecraft swooped
far behind Saturn's night side with cameras blazing.
Thirty-six of these images have been merged -- by an alert and adept
citizen scientist -- into a last full-ring portrait of
Cassini's home planet for the
past 13 years.
The Sun
is just above the frame, causing Saturn to cast a
dark shadow onto its enormous rings.
This shadow position
cannot be imaged from Earth
and will not be visible again until another Earth-launched spaceship visits the ringed giant.
Data and images from Cassini's
mission-ending dive into
Saturn's atmosphere on September 15 continue to be analyzed.