Faint Rings and Crescent Planet

Sometimes, you just need a pretty picture. In late September, 2013, the Cassini spacecraft took this lovely picture of Saturn from a distance of 2.3 million kilometers (1.5 million miles). It wasn't quite directly behind Saturn as seen from the Sun, so the planet itself is a crescent, seen at a steep angle. The rings are barely visible; Cassini was "underneath" them, looking toward their unlit side. Different rings react differently to sunlight. The broad and dense B ring, for example, doesn't l...