This weeks photo is from October 12th, 2011 and shows the rings of Saturn casting a beautiful shadow on the southern hemisphere of Saturn. The shadows the rings of Saturn cast are considered the sundial of seasons for Saturn. In 2009, Saturn had one of its equinoxes and now, for the next seven years, the shadows will be cast on the southern hemisphere of the great gas planet. Sadly, we could not observe this from earth because of our position so close to the sun, but the Cassini orbiter was able to grab some photos of the shadows in august of this year. The Cassini orbiter has been in Saturn's orbiut since 2004 and is expected to stay active until 2017.
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