Cassini Captures Views of Saturn's Rings
Now in Orbit, Probe Begins Sending Back Dazzling Images
Listen: Sounds of Saturn, Captured by Cassini as It Met the Planet's Magnetic Field
NASA/JPL
A view of Saturn's sunlit rings, taken July 1, 2004. Cassini is roughly 50,000 miles away from the center of Saturn, or 12,400 miles from the planet's clouds.
Shortly after the Cassini spacecraft fired its rocket and entered orbit around Saturn late Wednesday night, the craft turned its cameras down to peer at Saturn's rings. The cameras snapped more than five dozen black-and-white images, which were beamed down to Earth Thursday. As NPR's Richard Harris reports, scientists are astonished, elated and puzzled by what they see.
Related NPR Stories
Cassini Focuses on Saturn's Cloudy Moon Titan July 3, 2004
Probe To Provide Clues on How Planets Form July 2, 2004
Cassini Becomes First Craft to Enter Saturn's Orbit July 1, 2004
Cassini Turns the Spotlight on Saturn's Phoebe June 23, 2004
Comments
Discussions for this story are now closed. Please see the Community FAQ for more information.