Shadow Play

Late in October, the Cassini probe exploring Saturn and it's immediate cosmic neighborhood snapped a beautiful image of Saturn's rings wrapping the planet's cloudy surface in a curved, striped sash of shadow and light. The resulting effect brings to mind a modernist lampshade, even a flying saucer. Note that some of the rings let some sunglight through, lending their shadow smoky translucency.
According to NASA, the three thin and bright arcs in this scene represent three well-known gaps in the immense ring system. From bottom to top here (and widest to thinnest) they are the Cassini Division, the Encke Gap and the Keeler Gap.
NASA said that the image was taken in infrared light (752 nanometers) using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 29, 2005, at a distance of approximately 446,000 kilometers (277,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 23 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel. The image was contrast enhanced to improve visibility of features in the atmosphere.