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Cassini Closes in on Saturn

View of Saturn in the distance from below
In this May 15, 2004 image, dark regions represent areas where Cassini is seeing into deeper levels in Saturn's atmosphere. The dark regions are relatively free of high clouds and the light at these particular near-infrared wavelengths penetrates into the gaseous cloud-free atmosphere and is absorbed by methane.

In this image, dark regions represent areas where Cassini is seeing into deeper levels in Saturn’s atmosphere. The dark regions are relatively free of high clouds and the light at these particular near-infrared wavelengths penetrates into the gaseous cloud-free atmosphere and is absorbed by methane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on May 15, 2004, from a distance of 24.7 million kilometers (15.4 million miles) from Saturn.Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute