NASA Cassini probe captures stunning Saturn photo
On Monday, NASA released a stunning new view of the ringed planet Saturn. Black and white, the picture looks almost like a charcoal painting, offering a close-up view of the giant planet.
The shot shows a half-lit Saturn sitting askew as the planet's moon Dione peaks out from bottom left corner. The image was taken by the Cassini spacecraft's wide-angle camera on Feb. 16, 2016, according to a NASA release.
The camera used a spectral filter that preferentially admits near-infrared light wavelengths that are centered at 752 nanometers. The view was taken at a distance of about 1.2 million miles away from Saturn.
For perspective, the image scale is 68 miles per pixel.
Images like this are part of the Cassini mission, which is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency.
