While cruising around Saturn, be on the lookout for
picturesque arrangements of moons, rings, and shadows.
One such striking sight
occurred in 2005 and was captured by
the then
Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft.
In the featured image, moons
Mimas (left)
and
Tethys (right)
are visible on either side of
Saturn's thin rings, which are seen nearly edge-on.
Across the top of
Saturn are dark
shadows of the wide rings,
exhibiting their impressive complexity.
The
violet-light image brings up the texture of the backdrop:
Saturn's clouds.
Cassini orbited Saturn
from 2004 until mid-2017, when the
robotic spacecraft was directed to
dive into Saturn to keep it from
contaminating any moons.