The Day the Earth Smiled (photo)

On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings -- and, in the background, our home planet, Earth.

With the sun's powerful and potentially damaging rays eclipsed by Saturn itself, Cassini's onboard cameras were able to take advantage of this unique viewing geometry. They acquired a panoramic mosaic of the Saturn system that allows scientists to see details in the rings and throughout the system as they are backlit by the sun. This mosaic is special as it marks the third time our home planet was imaged from the outer solar system; the second time it was imaged by Cassini from Saturn's orbit; and the first time ever that inhabitants of Earth were made aware in advance that their photo would be taken from such a great distance.

With both Cassini's wide-angle and narrow-angle cameras aimed at Saturn, Cassini was able to capture 323 images in just over four hours. This final mosaic uses 141 of those wide-angle images. Images taken using the red, green and blue spectral filters of the wide-angle camera were combined and mosaicked together to create this natural-color view. A brightened version with contrast and color enhanced and an unannotated version are also available.

This image spans about 404,880 miles (651,591 kilometers) across.

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This photo is simply unreal I thought I should share. If you go to the link they have several photos of different resolutions they are pretty cool to look at for the detail it makes me wish I had a bigger monitor.

Wow.. doesn't even look like a photograph, looks more like a drawing..

Grimpachi

This photo is simply unreal I thought I should share. If you go to the link they have several photos of different resolutions they are pretty cool to look at for the detail it makes me wish I had a bigger monitor.

It IS unreal... looking. In a way. How come I can see the rings thru the body of the planet? It really looks like pretty computer graphics! This is an actual photo of Saturn?

Thanks for sharing!!!

new_here
It IS unreal... looking. In a way. How come I can see the rings thru the body of the planet? It really looks like pretty computer graphics! This is an actual photo of Saturn?

Yes: www.express.co.uk...

Nasa release new picture of planet Saturn taken from the Cassini spacecraft

And BTW no, you are not seeing through the planet, the ring you see is in front.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Wait, one more thing... the rings are not around the planet... the planet should appear 'nested' inside of the rings. Right? Instead, it appears the rings are behind the planet.

The picture was posted earlier

www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by new_here


It looks right to me maybe if you went to the website and opened a larger pic it would make more sense for you.

Beautiful images, blows me away what we can do. Can you imagine Galileo? He would be beside himself.

reply to post by new_here


The rings that look like they are on the opposite side of the planet are actually on the side closest to you. It's a perspective thing. When you look at the picture, you are underneath the planet, kind of looking up at it. Think of it this way: you are under water in a swimming pool, the body of Saturn is a ball that was set on top of the water. The rings are the ripples that the ball created.

The ball was placed in the middle of the pool, and you are all the way against one of the walls, still under the water. From that point of view, you would see the ball through some of the ripples.

Probably not too good of an analogy, but I hope it helps you

I simply refuse to believe this is genuine, along with many other
of the 'real' photographs NASA have treated us to.

Just say No.

reply to post by Grimpachi


Thanks for posting! Incredible! Over 400,000 mi, that's just amazing.

OneFreeMan
I simply refuse to believe this is genuine, along with many other
of the 'real' photographs NASA have treated us to.

Just say No.

Yeah CGI CGI CGI !
Let's look at their website and YouTube account.
Someone named NASA apparently?
Known Hoaxer, so much CGI on his site !
This guy has a lot of time on his hands.

Says he's landed on Mars recently ?
And the Moon in the 60's ? A hahahaha!!
What a fraud !
Couple of high powered graphics card an voila' !
It would be so easy to fake !!

Ok I can't do the sarcasmi..
Of course It's real folks
And no offense at all 1freeman, just being silly.