NASA's Picture of the Day: In the Shadow of Saturn

(Via APOD NASA) Image credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

I don't care what your favorite planet is, or if you never watched Star Trek and developed a fascination for astronomy (actually, I do care. In fact, I'm crying a little inside for you), or if you don't even know what SETI stands for, but this picture is just amazing. This was taken by the robotic Cassini Spacecraft while in the shadow of Saturn. More info after the jump.

"The robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn drifted in giant planet's shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and looked back toward the eclipsed Sun. Cassini saw a view unlike any other. First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight, in this exaggerated color image. Saturn's rings light up so much that new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the image. Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth." (Via APOD NASA)