Saturn Shown in Spectacular Cassini Photo

We are spoiled by sci-fi movies and airbrushed images, that when we see a real photo from space, it usually seems mundane. Some speck in a field of specks of various sizes and drab shades of color, that are only revelations to astronomers. But now, we have this stunning image. Not only is it a sweet piece of eye candy, but it has revealed important information to astronomers for the first time, including the revelation of previously unknown rings around the gas giant originally named by the Greeks as Cronus, the mythological Titan father of Zeus.

In the Shadow of Saturn
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA Explanation: In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear. The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the image. Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110904.html