NASA's Cassini peers through sliver of Saturn's sunlit atmosphere

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

New Delhi: NASA has released a stunning image of the Saturn planet acquired by the Cassini spacecraft.

Cassini captured this breathtaking image as it peers toward a sliver of Saturn's sunlit atmosphere while the icy rings stretch across the foreground as a dark band.

The view, which reveals the unilluminated side of Saturn's rings from about 7 degrees below the ring plane, was obtained at a distance of approximately 620,000 miles away.

As per NASA, the image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 31, 2017.

The spacecraft has studied Saturn for nearly 13 years since arriving there in 2004, gathering unprecedented insight on the ringed planet and its many moons.

Cassini is currently in the Grand Finale phase of its mission, where the spacecraft is exhibiting a number of risky passes through the gap between Saturn and its inner ring before plunging intentionally into the planet's atmosphere on September 15, 2017, marking the end of its 20-year-long venture.