APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Ringside
Explanation: Orbiting in the plane of Saturn's rings , Dione and the other icy saturnian moons have a perpetual ringside view of the gorgeous gas giant planet. Of course, while passing through the ring plane the Cassini spacecraft also shares their stunning perspective . The rings themselves can be seen slicing across the bottom of this Cassini snapshot . Remarkably thin , the bright rings still cast arcing shadows across the planet's cloud tops. Pale Dione , in the foreground, is about 1,100 kilometers across and orbits over 300,000 kilometers from the visible outer edge of the A ring.
| Date | October 21, 2005 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit : Cassini Imaging Team , SSI , JPL , ESA , NASA |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |



