Explanation:
When orbiting Saturn, be sure to watch for breathtaking superpositions of moons and rings.
One such picturesque vista was visible recently to the robot
Cassini spacecraft
now orbiting Saturn.
In 2006 April, Cassini
captured Saturn's
A and
F
rings stretching in front of
cloud-shrouded Titan.
Near the rings and appearing just above Titan was
Epimetheus, a moon which orbits just outside the
F ring.
The dark space in the
A ring is called the
Encke Gap, although several thin knotted ringlets and even the small moon
Pan orbit there.
Cassini and
curious Earthlings await the coming
Saturnian equinox this summer when the
ring plane
will point directly at the Sun.
Mysterious spokes and telling
shadows are expected to become
visible
that might give away more clues about the nature of
Saturn's ringparticles.
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