The Shadow of Saturn

This is an actual image taken by the Cassini Spacecraft that is orbiting Saturn. The reason for the spectacular colors is because the satellite is actually behind Saturn, showing us the dark side with the Sun behind it. Since Saturn is made up of mostly gas, it is quite transparent and you can see through the planet to the rings behind it. The dark side of the planet is seen because of the reflection of light from the ring system onto it. New rings were discovered when scientists added false colors to the picture, but the rings are so faint that you cannot see them in the above photograph. Saturn's E-Ring, seen in the picture above is now believed to contain ice particles from its moon, Enceladus. The pale blue dot, just above the main bright rings on the left side is the tiny speck of Earth.