The NASA Cassini mission, which currently revolves around Saturn, presents us with a stunning view of the gas giant and a rich variety of satellites. During his journey, Cassini in an instant captures rather rare events. This photograph shows the rings of Saturn and the small satellite Mimas, which is illuminated by a strange phenomenon called “The Light of Saturn”.
Our own satellite has an ashen color when the position of the Earth and the Sun is such that the light from the Sun is twice reflected first from the Earth, and then from the Moon. That is what happens in this photo. Sunlight reflects from the upper atmosphere of Saturn, casting a faint glow on the satellite.
In a press release, NASA replied that Mimas was 2.5 times as bright as the rings at that moment.
The result of this phenomenon was a beautiful portrait of a small crater satellite.
This observation was made by Cassini on February 16, when the spacecraft was approximately at a distance of 1.6 million kilometers from Mimas.
