Trying to understand the way Saturn's ring look in this famous Cassini image You all probably know the famous The day the Earth Smiled image. For the life of me I can't understand what's going on with the rings there. Seems like the "bottom" half of the rings is the half that goes "behind" Saturn (relative to the camera), but then what's going on with the distortion of the rings on the upper half when they (presumably) cross in front of Saturn? I can't make sense of of this image.



Higher resolution and annotated versions available
What's going on with the distortion of the rings on the upper half when they (presumably) cross in front of Saturn?


The brownish areas you see on Saturn are ring light, analogous to seeing the Earth by moonlight. Saturn's rings light up Saturn's night sky, particularly just after sunrise and just before sunset. The two dark bands across the face of Saturn are the A ring (upper dark band) and B ring (lower dark band). Of all of Saturn's rings, these two are the most opaque. The parts of Saturn underneath those two dark bands are brilliantly lit by ring light, but Cassini can't see those parts of Saturn because the opaque A and B rings block that light.

For a much better and more thorough explanation of all of the features in this incredible image, I suggestion you spend eleven minutes watching this youTube video by Emily Lakdawalla.



This is one of the very few times I will post a link to a youTube video. It is worth every eleven minutes.