For the first time, Saturn’s moons and rings, Earth, Venus and Mars have been shot in a single picture. Thanks to NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, the panoramic image is the first of its kind that shows all of them are visible in one natural-color shoot. In fact, the space agency took into account as many as 141 wide-angle images of the Saturn system to generate the incredible picture. Images available before this show each of them, but not all in one picture. It was at the Newseum that the stunning new image, which was shot by Cassini on July 19 and covers 404, 880 miles (651,591 kilometres) across the Saturn system, was unveiled by NASA on Tuesday.

Rare Possibility

According to Carolyn Porco, leader of Cassini’s imaging team at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, the spacecraft has managed to make available a magical view in a single splendid view. “In this one magnificent view, Cassini has delivered to us a universe of marvels”, Porco said, adding “….And, it did so on a day people all over the world, in unison, smiled in celebration at the sheer joy of being alive on a pale blue dot.”

Cassini was engaged in studying Saturn and its inner ring system from different angles, Linda Spilker, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said. “With a long, intricate dance around the Saturn system, Cassini aims to study the Saturn system from as many angles as possible”, the Cassini project scientist said, adding “beyond showing us the beauty of the Ringed Planet, data like these also improve our understanding of the history of the faint rings around Saturn and the way disks around planets form – clues to how our own solar system formed around the sun.”

Wave at Saturn Day

According to NASA, the images of Saturn and Earth as captured by the Cassini spacecraft are considered rare as the sun happened to remain very close to the Earth, thereby making it a highly risky affair for Cassini to target the blue planet. It was actually Saturn blocking the sun that facilitated the shooting of the sensational image on “Wave at Saturn” day. Wanting to involve people in the exciting process, the team associated with Cassini extended a public invitation wherein people could take their own photos. Even as Cassini shot Earth’s photo, people were invited to shoot themselves waving to the sky in a terrific mood of celebration. More than 1,400 images were shared by the people on Internet that showed the kind of thrill and excitement which prevailed during the event.

Going by the image, Earth appeared like a bright blue dot to Saturn’s lower right, Venus seemed to be a bright dot to the upper left of Saturn. Looking like a faint red dot is Mars, and that was to Venus’ left. Inclusive of Enceladus, seven Saturn’s moons can also be viewed from the image.

Launched in 1997, the Cassini spacecraft has been exploring the Saturn system for almost a decade now, and the mission is likely to be carried through 2017, with NASA looking forward to have more such stunning pictures of the Saturn and its ring system.