The Shadow of Saturn

in #science7 years ago

This is a picture of Saturn taken by the Cassini Spacecraft.




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This picture was taken by the Cassini spacecraft in 2015, just at the last moment the shadow of Saturn is still covering the main ring. Like Earth, Saturn tilts on its axis. As Saturn tilts more the shadow on its rings gets shorter or longer. The highest point of tilt recently was 2009, and won’t cross the rings again until 2029. The rings of Saturn are massive, they cover ¾ of the distance between the Earth in the moon, an entire 282,000 kilometers. [1][2]

The rings aren’t the only interesting feature of Saturn, it also has an astonishing 53 confirmed moons and 9 provisional moons. One of the moons, named Titan, has a dense atmosphere and has a possibility for life. Titan is still larger than the planet Mercury, even though it is a moon. As a candidate for life Saturn, unlike its moon, is very unlikely. This is because the temperature, radiation, and pressure levels are too high. [3]




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Wow, shadow crossed this giant ring! You can participate in black-white pics challenge :D Its perfectly fit for that :) Can you write something about diamond planet? The one that costs like quadrillion dollars? :) Thanks, i upvote ;)

Space is mesmerising

wow that is cool! thank you for sharing!

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SUPER COOL !!! I upvoted and resteem :)

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