Image of the Day

Of Both Shadow and Substance

Dark shadows constantly hover over Saturn's twilight world as seen by the Cassini spacecraft, where the Sun's rays are one hundred times weaker than at Earth.

The image shows Saturn's icy rings casting their silhouette upon the planet, and the planetary shadow falls in turn on the rings at the upper right. The small shadow spot of the moon Tethys also appears on Saturn's clouds at the left. However, the dark Saturn environment may harbor the possibility of life, as evidenced by Cassini's pass through a fountain of water vapor from the moon Enceladus.

Cassini captured this view on Feb. 25, 2008 about 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Saturn. The spacecraft angled in for its shot from the non-illuminated side of the rings.

• VIDEO: Enceladus, Cold Faithful
• IMAGES: Cassini's Latest Discoveries
• Special Report: Cassini's Mission to Saturn

— NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute and SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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