Saturn (bigger 4x) seen from the Moon. To image Saturn, the spacecraft slews the NAC throughout Saturn, constructing up the image by imitating our orbital ground motion. The variety throughout Saturn was accomplished by pointing the NACs on one side of Saturn and then targeting the other side. Since Saturn is much dimmer than the Moon (and Jupiter) and the direct exposure time is in effect set by the multitude speed, we can not spot the Saturnian moons as we did with the Galilean moons, they are just too dim.
Hubbles 2021 appearance at Saturn reveals rapid and severe color modifications in the bands of the worlds northern hemisphere. Credit: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (NASA-GSFC), and M. H. Wong (UC Berkeley); Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI).
For comparison, the image above was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope throughout its grand trip of the external solar system.
LRO is handled by NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has actually gathered a treasure trove of data with its 7 powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon. NASA is returning to the Moon with global and business partners to expand human existence in space and revive brand-new understanding and opportunities.
On October 13, 2021, NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter slewed to enable LRO Camera (LROC) to get this stunning view revealing Saturn and its rings. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
From a viewpoint about 90 kilometers (56 miles) above Lacus Veris, “Lake of Spring,” the camera aboard NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft imaged Saturn on October 13, 2021. In this view, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) was looking down at the north face of the rings, and from this perspective the rings in front of Saturn appear listed below its equator.
Saturn (enlarged 4x) seen from the Moon. Maneuvers such as this need extreme planning from the LRO objective operations group at the NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
The LROC Narrow Angle Cameras (NAC) are line scan cams, which presents an obstacle for imaging anything besides the Moon. This is since they were designed to acquire images by taking advantage of the motion of the spacecraft above the surface area (LRO takes a trip over 1,600 meters per second (1 mile per second) above the Moon), to construct up an image one line at a time, with extremely brief exposure times. To image Saturn, the spacecraft slews the NAC across Saturn, building up the image by imitating our orbital ground movement. The multitude across Saturn was achieved by pointing the NACs on one side of Saturn and then targeting the opposite. LRO reacted to the upgraded target by slewing to it at a specific rate throughout the planet. This rate is programmed to enhance LRO stability and speed and resulted in a NAC exposure time of 3.82 milliseconds. Considering that Saturn is much dimmer than the Moon (and Jupiter) and the exposure time is in effect set by the multitude speed, we can not discover the Saturnian moons as we did with the Galilean moons, they are just too dim.
Thankfully, the NACs can image the fantastic rings of Saturn, which are most likely just 10 to 100 million years old, 10 meters thick, and are comprised nearly completely of water ice. The significant rings noticeable here have a diameter of 270,000 km (168,000 miles), about 70% of the typical range between the Earth and the Moon.