On the edge of Saturn 🪐⁣ ⁣ Our Cassini spacecraft passes right by the edge of the rings of Saturn in this perspective that is never seen directly from Earth. This image was taken on Sept. 30, 2005, approximately 1.5 million miles (2.4 million km) from Saturn.⁣ ⁣ In our skies, Saturn’s disk is always nearly fully illuminated by the Sun. From this point of view, nearly in the ring plane — the Sun over to the right — Cassini can see both lit and dark hemispheres, with the shadow of the rings on the northern hemisphere.⁣ ⁣ Image description: A black-and-white image of Saturn with the ring at eye level, imaged as a thin white line across the planet’s equator. The right side of the planet is illuminated by the Sun, with the shadow of the rings on the upper half of Saturn. Also visible are details of the subtle banded nature of Saturn’s atmosphere.⁣ ⁣ Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute⁣ ⁣ #NASA #Space #Cassini #Saturn #Rings #Planet #SolarSystem #BlackAndWhite