In this magnificent view, delicate haze layers high in the atmosphere
encircle the oblate figure of Saturn. A special combination of spectral
filters used for this image makes the high haze become visible. A
methane-sensitive filter (centered at 889 nanometers) makes high altitude
features stand out, while a polarizing filter makes small haze particles
appear bright.
Methane in the atmosphere absorbs light with wavelengths around 889
nanometers as it travels deeper into the gas planet, thus bright areas in
this image must represent reflective material at higher altitudes. Small
particles or individual molecules scatter light quite effectively to a
polarization of 90 degrees, which this polarizing filter is sensitive to.
Thus, high altitude haze layers appear bright in this view.
The small blob of light at far right is Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700
miles across).
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec.
5, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles)
from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 100 degrees.
The image scale is 169 kilometers (105 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The
Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and
assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space
Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at
http://ciclops.org.
