January 9, 2018

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Image: Veil of ice in Saturn's rings

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Saturn's rings, made of countless icy particles, form a translucent veil in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Saturn's tiny moon Pan, about 17 miles (28 kilometers) across, orbits within the Encke Gap in the A ring. Beyond, we can see the arc of Saturn itself, its cloud tops streaked with dark shadows cast by the rings.

This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 12, 2016, at a distance of approximately 746,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Pan.

The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017.

Provided by NASA

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