NASA revisits iconic Saturn pic, and Earth is photobombing
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When the Cassini spacecraft captured this image, it was a whopping 1.2 billion kilometres (746,000 miles) away from Earth. NASA says that this image of the ringed planet was taken using red, green and blue filters in order to catch the natural-colour view of Saturn
Saturn is often called the majestic planet of our Solar System as it has the most prominent rings visible from even an amateur telescope from the surface of the Earth. The planet has captivated us for centuries and has come to assume many identities in myths and legends across the world. NASA had launched the Cassini probe in the year 1997 to study the planet up close. The probe reached Saturn in the year 2004 and clicked some truly brilliant pictures as it did several flybys.
NASA has now revisited one of these pictures. On its Instagram feed, NASA has posted the iconic image of Saturn taken by the Cassini probe, and Earth is photobombing along with the Moon, Mars and Venus!
When the Cassini spacecraft captured this image, it was a whopping 1.2 billion kilometres (746,000 miles) away from Earth. NASA says that this image of the ringed planet was taken using red, green and blue filters in order to catch the natural-colour view of Saturn.
The photobombers, namely the Earth, the Moon along with Venus and Mars are visible as mere dots of light.
NASA's repost of the iconic image has come just when Saturn is visible each day in the sky at the time of sunset. The planet will be visible this way until February 2024. It will be visible as a bright yellowish "star" on southwestern horizon.
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is the second-largest planet in our Solar System. Contrary to common belief, the ring around Saturn is not a single structure but it is made up of thousands of ringlets made of chunks of ice and rock. It's a massive ball made mainly of hydrogen and helium just like Jupiter, the largest planet in our Solar System.
Fun thing about Saturn is its density is less than that of water. So if the planet is put in a giant tub filled with water, it will actually float! Finding such a big tub would definitely be a problem as Saturn is more than nine times larger than Earth.
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