NASA’s Cassini space probe has taken a lot of pictures of the planet Saturn and its rings. It’s a show that keeps on fascinating us and Gordan Ugarkovic, a Croatian member of the UnmannedSpaceflight.com group, has brought together 36 photographs available in the Cassini mission archive to create a complete image of the planet as seen from its north pole, with its rings in evidence.
The 36 photographs used by Gordan Ugarkovic were in Raw format divided into three groups that used red, green and blue filters which approximate true colors. Ugarkovic took the files in this format, processed them and assembled them into the final mosaic.
The result can be seen in its highest definition on Gordan Ugarkovic’s Flickr page with extraordinary details. The photographs used were taken by the Cassini spacecraft above Saturn’s north pole. You can then see perfectly the hexagonal vortex, an atmospheric phenomenon bizarre but widely explained.
However, it’s inevitable that the best show is given by Saturn’s rings, which in this case are seen more circular than usual. Generally, the Cassini space probe flies near the planet’s equator and only when it’s programmed to fly over its poles can see the rings from an angle that’s affected much less by perspective.
This view allows us to distinguish the various Saturn’s rings. The Cassini division, which is the gap between the two brightest rings, is very evident. It’s named after astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini, who discovered it in 1675, just like the space probe that took the photographs.
To the left the dark side of Saturn is partially visible. The faint light that brightens it comes from the rings themselves. The planet’s shadow darkens part of the rings in such a way that it’s completely invisible in the photographs used to create this image.
The Cassini spacecraft reached the orbit of Saturn in 2004 and over the years has provided us with an enormous amount of scientific information on the planet, its rings and its satellites. Also thanks to Gordan Ugarkovic, it gave us a spectacular image of Saturn and its rings.
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