Ringworld Waiting
Date: 29 June 2004
Satellite: Cassini
Depicts: Saturn and Icy Moons
Copyright: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Saturn's peaceful beauty invites the Cassini spacecraft for a closer look in this natural colour view, taken during the spacecraft's approach to the planet. By this point in the approach sequence, Saturn was large enough that two narrow angle camera images were required to capture an end-to-end view of the planet, its delicate rings and several of its icy moons. The composite is made entirely from these two images.
Moons visible in this mosaic: Epimetheus (116 kilometres across), Pandora (84 kilometres across) and Mimas (398 kilometres across) at left of Saturn; Prometheus (102 kilometres across), Janus (181 kilometres across) and Enceladus (499 kilometres across) at right of Saturn.
The images were taken on 7 May 2004 from a distance of 28.2 million kilometres from Saturn. The image scale is 169 kilometres per pixel. Moons in the image have been brightened for visibility.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
