A bright spot glows on one of Saturn’s rings in a newly released photo taken by a spacecraft exploring the planet and its many moons.
The glowing patch appears to emanate from what’s known as Saturn’s “B ring,” but looks can be deceiving.
The bright spot is actually produced by an effect known as an “opposition surge” which makes that part of the rings looks like it’s glowing from the Cassini spacecraft’s perspective, according to NASA.
“An opposition surge occurs when the sun is directly behind the observer looking toward the rings,” NASA said in a statement. “The particular geometry of this observation makes the point in the rings appear much, much brighter than would otherwise be expected.” Read more…
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