(Every day until Christmas, I’ll be posting a science-related image.)
Day 18
![Since Saturn is farther from the Sun than Earth, we never see it in eclipse: when it blocks the Sun. However, the Cassini spacecraft sometimes passes in such a way that the planet is between it and the Sun, which is the source of today's image. [Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI]](https://sciencevspseudoscience.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/saturn_eclipse_2012.png?w=500&h=232)
Since Saturn is farther from the Sun than Earth, we never see it eclipsing the Sun. However, the Cassini spacecraft sometimes passes in such a way that the planet is between it and the Sun, which is the source of today’s image. [Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI]
Part of what makes these images so striking is that the rings of Saturn—made of small chunks of ice—reflect a lot of sunlight back onto the night side of the planet. Unlike the earlier eclipse photo, the picture above is a composite, bringing together visible light (in the violet and red filters) with infrared (the parts of the image that appear green). The result is stunning, highlighting many things that we couldn’t see, even if we flew out to the planet.
Some might say this is not a real photo, since the colors in the image aren’t what we would perceive, but I disagree strongly. We use technology as extensions to our senses all the time: eyeglasses, microscopes, magnifying glasses, and telescopes all allow us to see things beyond our ordinary vision. Probes like Cassini take one step farther, bringing greater beauty and understanding of the wonderful Universe we inhabit.
I just love this Advent series. I make sure I share it with my buddies every day.