This mouth-watering image of Saturn was captured by the Cassini spacecraft at a distance of 750,000 miles. That's enough to get it all in the frame. Actually, this is a composite of pictures taken over a four-hour period in July. It's taken this long to get the image stitched together just right. But you really must look at it full-size. What makes this image so stunning? One reason is because the planet is between Cassini and the sun, which gives it a marvelous backlit effect. Dr. Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy has more details and some alternate views, including the location of Earth in this picture.
It isn't a photo, just an illustration. Why they never show the real pics?
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