The day the Earth smiled: On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn’s shadow and turned to image the planet, seven of its moons, its inner rings -- and, in
the background, our home planet, Earth. With the Sun’s powerful rays eclipsed by Saturn itself, Cassini’s onboard
cameras were able to take advantage of this unique viewing geometry to acquire a panoramic mosaic of the
Saturn system that allows scientists to see details in the rings and throughout the system as they are backlit by the
that their photo would be taken from such a great distance.
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
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