Cassini’s Pale Blue Dot

In this rare image taken on 19 July, the wide-angle camera on the international Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn’s rings and our planet Earth and Moon in the same frame.

The dark side of Saturn, its bright limb, the main rings, the F ring, and the G and E rings are clearly seen; the limb of Saturn and the F ring are overexposed. The ‘breaks’ in the brightness of Saturn’s limb are due to the shadows of the rings on the globe of Saturn, preventing sunlight from shining through the atmosphere in those regions. The E and G rings have been brightened for better visibility.

Earth, 1.44 billion km away in this image, appears as a blue dot at centre right; the Moon can be seen as a fainter protrusion off its right side. The other bright dots nearby are stars.

This is only the third time ever that Earth has been imaged from the outer Solar System. The first image was taken by NASA’s Voyager-1 in 1990 and famously titled “Pale Blue Dot”. In 2006, Cassini imaged Earth in the stunning and unique mosaic of Saturn called “In Saturn's Shadow – The Pale Blue Dot”.

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

Public domain masterpieces

The mission of this series is to promote space and science. The creators want these designs to hang on your wall, which is in line with our mission in Astrography. That is why we decided to use our competence in printing cosmos inspired graphics and photos to provide you with these projects in the highest possible quality on Fine Art (Giclée) pigments and papers.

These projects are available in the public domain. You can download them from NASA website and print them at any printing house. but we are convinced that thanks to our experience in printing space photographs we are able to provide the best quality of these posters in the world. We do not earn on copyright here. In this series, we provide specializing printing competences & technologies (dedicated in space), packaging and worldwide logistics. Let the promotion of science and art become a common fashion.

Posters will look great in your home, children’s room, or office.