From a spectacular [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] vantage point over 1.4 billion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] kilometers from the sun, the Voyager [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…] 1 spacecraft looked back toward the inner solar system to record this startling view [ http://photojournal…PIAGenCatalogPage.pl ?PIA00335 ] of Saturn's nightside. The picture was taken on November 16, 1980, some four days after the robot spacecraft's closest approach to the gorgeous gas giant [ http://seds.lpl.ari…]. The crescent planet casts a broad shadow [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] across its bright rings while the translucent rings themselves can be seen to cast a shadow on Saturn's cloud tops [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Since Earth is closer to the sun than Saturn [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…], only Saturn's dayside is visible to Earth-bound telescopes [ http://www.seds.org…] which could never take a picture like this one. After this successful [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] flyby two decades ago, Voyager 1 has continued outward bound [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] and is presently humanity's most distant spacecraft [ http://vraptor.jpl.…vimdesc.html ]. The next spacecraft to approach Saturn will be Cassini [ http://www.jpl.nasa…], on course to arrive in 2004.
Explanation
From a spectacular [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] vantage point over 1.4 billion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] kilometers from the sun, the Voyager [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…] 1 spacecraft looked back toward the inner solar system to record this startling view [ http://photojournal…PIAGenCatalogPage.pl ?PIA00335 ] of Saturn's nightside. The picture was taken on November 16, 1980, some four days after the robot spacecraft's closest approach to the gorgeous gas giant [ http://seds.lpl.ari…]. The crescent planet casts a broad shadow [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] across its bright rings while the translucent rings themselves can be seen to cast a shadow on Saturn's cloud tops [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Since Earth is closer to the sun than Saturn [ http://nssdc.gsfc.n…], only Saturn's dayside is visible to Earth-bound telescopes [ http://www.seds.org…] which could never take a picture like this one. After this successful [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] flyby two decades ago, Voyager 1 has continued outward bound [ http://vraptor.jpl.…] and is presently humanity's most distant spacecraft [ http://vraptor.jpl.…vimdesc.html ]. The next spacecraft to approach Saturn will be Cassini [ http://www.jpl.nasa…], on course to arrive in 2004.
