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Bruce Murray Space Image Library

Lines and circles in shadows on Saturn

Lines and circles in shadows on Saturn
Lines and circles in shadows on Saturn Cassini looked down from a position high above the ring plane to capture this approximate-true-color view of the yellow clouds of Saturn. With the equinox less than an Earth year away, the shadows of the rings were compressed into a tight set of bands near Saturn's equator; the inner C ring makes the faintest broad band, then there is the thickest dark band of the B ring, followed by the Cassini Division, and then the A ring. To the north of the ring shadows (toward the bottom of this image) is a shadow cast by Saturn's moon Tethys; moon shadows are another phenomenon that only occurs near the equinox. NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI / color composite by Gordan Ugarkovic