NASA's Cassini spacecraft captures breathtaking view of Saturn's F ring and its moon 'Prometheus'

NASA has released a beautiful image of Saturn's faint ring and its moon Prometheus.

Photo Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

New Delhi: NASA has released a beautiful image of Saturn's faint F ring and its moon Prometheus.

According to NASA, surface features are visible on Prometheus in the view captured by its Cassini spacecraft.

Though most of Cassini's images of Prometheus are too distant to resolve individual craters, but making views like this is a rare treat.

As per report, Saturn's narrow F ring which makes a diagonal line beginning at top center, appears bright and bold in some Cassini views, but not here.

In this image, the sun is nearly behind Cassini and most of the light hitting the F ring is being scattered away from the camera, making it appear dim.

Light-scattering behavior like this is typical of rings comprised of small particles, such as the F ring.

This spectacular view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 14 degrees below the ring plane.

The image was taken on September 24, 2016, in visible light with the NASA's Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera.

As per NASA, the view was acquired at a distance of approximately 226,000 miles (364,000 kilometers) from Prometheus and at a sun-Prometheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 51 degrees.

The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency.