Thrice as nice: NASA captures rare sighting of Saturn's triple crescent moons

Washington: NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, on a study mission to Saturn since 1997, has captured a rare triple crescent moons sighting on Saturn. [caption id=“attachment_2308490” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Saturn’s Triple Crescent. Image Courtesy: Twitter @NASA[/caption] Saturn has nine named moons and as many as 53 natural satellites in its orbit. As the multiple moons wax and wane in light, they create a mesmerising image. Such a triple crescent moon sighting was captured by Cassini in March, but has just now been released by NASA, Slashgear.com reported. Titan, the largest moon pictured, appears a bit fuzzy due to the cloud layers. The moon in the upper left-hand side is Rhea, which has a diameter about one-third the size of Titan. Rhea appears a bit bumpy due to its ice-covered craters. The smallest crescent moon pictured is the minute Mimas, which is around 13 times smaller than Titan. The photograph was taken using only visible light and a narrow-angle lens from the Cassini spacecraft, from a distance of over 1.9 million km. It captures what could be seen with naked eyes, if given the chance.

A single crescent moon is familiar in Earth's sky, but Saturn has many moons: http://t.co/xXDf2UAc3R @CassiniSaturn pic.twitter.com/0DqqMpxAGT

— NASA (@NASA) June 22, 2015

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