Space and Physics
PUBLISHED
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured some sleek black-and-white imagery of two moons in the midst of Saturn’s signature rings.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The small white dot in the top left corner is the slower and more distant moon Atlas, which is about 30 kilometers (19 miles) wide. In the bottom right corner, in the thin band of black, you can see Pan, which follows a quicker and closer orbit.
Pan is the slightly smaller of the two moons, at around 28 kilometers (17 miles) in width. Saturn has at least another 60 confirmed moons.
The recently released image was taken on July 9 around 5.5 million kilometers (3.4 million) miles from Atlas. For a sense of perspective, each pixel measures about 33 kilometers (21 miles). The spacecraft is equipped with “superhuman senses”, able to capture wavelengths beyond the abilities of human sight or a conventional camera.
Cassini launched in 1997, and since then it has been studying and observing the oh-so-photogenic planet of Saturn, returning glorious shots like this. The mission is due to end with a descent into Saturn's atmosphere next year.
Enjoy the full image below.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
