A moon in blue

"Mimas drifts along in its orbit against the azure backdrop of Saturn's northern latitudes in this true-color view {The raw version of this image is located in my Saturn stash}. The long, dark lines on the atmosphere are shadows cast by the planet's rings {I posted a similar configuration in November}.

"Saturn's northern hemisphere is presently relatively cloud-free, and rays of sunlight take a long path through the atmosphere. This results in sunlight being scattered at shorter (bluer) wavelengths, thus giving the northernmost latitudes their bluish appearance at visible wavelengths. At the bottom, craters on icy Mimas (398 km/247 mi across) give the moon a dimpled appearance."

And as the Cassini probe cast its gaze upward:


"Saturn's northern hemisphere is presently a serene blue, more befitting of Uranus or Neptune, as seen in this natural color image from Cassini. Spots of bright clouds also are visible throughout the region. This view is similar to an infrared image obtained by Cassini at nearly the same time. The infrared view shows a great deal more detail in the planet's atmosphere, however."