A visual voyage: Saturn and its majestic rings captured by the Cassini probe

NASA. LARGE FORMAT. Saturn is certainly one of the most beautiful sights the solar system has to offer. It is enveloped in the splendor of its majestic rings. Saturn's shadow extends completely over the rings in this view taken by the CASSINI space probe. Between the blinding light of day and the darkness of night, there's a band of twilight on the globe where we can see colorful details in the atmosphere. Here, bright clouds dot the blue-gray north polar region. To the south, the planet's night side is gilded by light reflected from the illuminated face of the rings. This natural color view is a mosaic of 36 images - that is, 12 distinct series of red, green and blue images - taken over a period of about 2.5 hours, as Cassini scanned the entire main ring system. The aim of this image sequence was to observe the rings in their entirety. Consequently, the camera exposure times were just right to capture the dark side of the rings, but longer than those needed to properly expose Saturn's sunlit globe. As a result, the sunlit half of the planet is overexposed. 2007.
Vintage chromogenic print. Reference in margin on front. Legend on back label. 40.6 x 40.6CM with margins.