This is not a solar eclipse. Pictured above is a
busy vista of moons and rings taken at Saturn. The large circular object in the
center of the image is Titan,
the largest moon of Saturn and one of the most intriguing objects in the entire
Solar
System. The dark spot in the center is the main solid part of the moon. The
bright surrounding ring is atmospheric haze above
Titan, gas that is scattering sunlight to a camera operating onboard the robotic Cassini
spacecraft. Cutting horizontally across the image are the rings
of Saturn, seen nearly edge on. At the lower right of Titan is Enceladus, a small moon
of Saturn. Since the image was taken pointing nearly at the Sun, the surfaces of
Titan and Enceladus
appear in silhouette, and the rings of Saturn appear similar to a photographic
negative. Now if you look really really closely at Enceladus, you can
see a hint of icy jets shooting out toward the
bottom of the image. It is these jets that inspired future
proposals to
land on Enceladus, burrow into the ice, and search for signs
of extraterrestrial life.
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