page_title: In Saturn's Rings
section_title: Image sources
hierarchical_section_title: In Saturn's Rings / Image sources
caption_attribution_description: العربية: هذه الصُورة الآسرة ذات الألوان الطبيعيَّة لِكوكب زُحل صُنعت عبر دمج عدَّة صُور التُقطت بعد فترةٍ قصيرةٍ من بدء مسبار كاسيني بِمُهمَّته الطويلة القاضية بِمُراقبة الاعتدال الشمسي، في شهر تمُّوز (يوليو) 2008م. (في الواقع بلغ زُحل اعتدالهُ الشمسي يوم 11 آب (أغسطس) 2009م.) English: This captivating natural color view of the planet Saturn was created from images collected shortly after Cassini began its extended Equinox Mission in July 2008. (Saturn actually reached equinox on August 11, 2009.) Español: Esta foto de color natural del planeta Saturno fue creada de las fotos tomadas por Cassini durante su misión extendida del equinoccio en julio de 2008. Français&#160;: Vue en couleurs naturelles de la planète Saturne, créée d'après des images recueillies par la sonde spatiale Cassini peu de temps avant qu'elle commence sa mission «&#160;équinoxe&#160;» en juillet 2009. Six lunes sont aussi visibles: Titan (5150 kilomètres de diamètre), Janus (179 kilomètres), Mimas (396 km), Pandore (81 km), Épiméthée (113 km) et Encelade (504 km). Original Caption Released with Image: As Saturn advances in its orbit toward equinox and the sun gradually moves northward on the planet, the motion of Saturn's ring shadows and the changing colors of its atmosphere continue to transform the face of Saturn as seen by Cassini. This captivating natural color view was created from images collected shortly after Cassini began its extended Equinox Mission in July 2008. It can be contrasted with earlier images from the spacecraft's four-year prime mission that show the shadow of Saturn's rings first draped high over the planet's northern hemisphere, then shifting southward as northern summer changed to spring (see PIA06606 and PIA09793). During this time, the colors of the northern hemisphere have evolved from azure blue to a multitude of muted-colored bands. This mosaic combines 30 images—10 each of red, green and blue light—taken over the course of approximately two hours as Cassini panned its wide-angle camera across the entire planet and ring system on July 23, 2008, from a southerly elevation of 6 degrees. Six moons complete this constructed panorama: Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles, across), Janus (179 kilometers, or 111 miles, across), Mimas (396 kilometers, or 246 miles, across), Pandora (81 kilometers, or 50 miles, across), Epimetheus (113 kilometers, or 70 miles, across) and Enceladus (504 kilometers, or 313 miles, across). NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured these images at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (690,000 miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 20 degrees. Image scale is 70 kilometers (43.6 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
context_page_description: In Saturn's Rings is a large format movie about Saturn made exclusively from real photographs taken by spacecraft. Director Stephen van Vuuren used more than 7.5 million photographs and numerous film techniques to create the effect of flying through space around Saturn and among its rings. CGI and 3-D modeling were not used in any capacity to create the realistic feel van Vuuren wanted for the viewer's experience. Most of the photos were taken by various major space missions.
  The film was originally expected to be released on December 31, 2014. It was scheduled for release on May 4, 2018, to coincide with Star Wars Day. The 45-minute film will be released in four formats:
  Native unmodified fulldome with true fulldome camera field-of-view.
  Dome-optimized master for digital and 15/70.
  Flat-screen, 1.33-ratio, 4K giant screen version digital and 15/70.
  Digital cinema 4K/2K in flat aspect ratio.
context_section_description: The film relies primarily on photographs of Saturn and its moons, taken by the Cassini-Huygens probe. A large number of other sources were also used. Many of these images of stars and galaxies were taken from camera locations much closer to Earth, during the manned Apollo missions and by the unmanned Hubble Space Telescope.  These images "set the stage" during the film's opening sequences, before the viewer approaches Saturn.
  Sources include:
  Cassini-Huygens
  Apollo 8-17
  Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)
  Hubble Space Telescope
  MESSENGER spacecraft
  Suomi NPP (VIIRS)
  Galileo
  Voyager 1 and 2
  Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
  Venus Express (VEX)
  Rosetta
  Dawn
  Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
  U.S. Library of Congress
  Other public historical photographic archives
caption: Saturn during Equinox
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