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Back Saturn Ring-Plane Crossing

Saturn Ring-Plane Crossing


Depicts: Saturn, Dione, Janus, Rhea, Enceladus
Copyright: Amanda S. Bosh (Lowell Observatory), Andrew S. Rivkin (Univ. of Arizona/LPL), the HST High Speed Photometer Instrument Team (R.C. Bless, PI), and NASA

This sequence of images from the Hubble Space Telescope documents a rare astronomical alignment -- Saturn's magnificent ring system turned edge-on. This occurs when the Earth passes through Saturn's ring plane, as it does approximately every 15 years.
Last Update: 1 September 2019
22-Jan-2026 12:24 UT

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