APOD: 2019 December 29 - Cassini Spacecraft Crosses Saturns Ring Plane

Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "Cassini Spacecraft Crosses Saturn's Ring Plane." Galileo didn't understand why Saturn's "appendages" disappeared in 1612. Later that century, it became understood that Saturn's unusual protrusions were rings and that when Earth's orbit crosses the ring plane, the edge-on rings will appear to disappear. In modern times, the robot Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn frequently crossed Saturn's ring plane during its mission to Saturn (2004-2017). Taken in 2005, this image shows the thin ring plane in blue, and bands and clouds in Saturn's upper atmosphere in gold. The Sun (out of frame to the lower right) casts the high dark shadows of Saturn's rings across the top of this image. The moons Dione and Enceladus appear as bumps.