News

The Earth is just a tiny dot of light in these spectacular photos captured by Nasa probe

The Cassini spacecraft pictured our planet from the rings of Saturn.
The Cassini spacecraft pictured our planet from the rings of Saturn. The Cassini spacecraft pictured our planet from the rings of Saturn.

Lost in the vastness of space, the Earth appears as an insignificant pinprick of light between the mighty rings of Saturn in a new image from the Cassini spacecraft.

The Nasa probe, which has been investigating Saturn and its moons since 2004, captured the extraordinary photo on April 12 at a distance of 870 million miles from Earth.

A blown-up version of the image clearly shows the moon a short distance to the left of the planet.

The Earth from between Saturn's rings
The Earth from between Saturn's rings
(Nasa/PA)

Saturn’s rings are made up of countless icy particles and boulders up to a metre across in size. The two main rings visible above and below the Earth are the A ring (top) and the “F” ring (bottom) - Saturn’s outermost ring.

The American space agency released the photos as Cassini nears the dramatic grand finale of its mission.

On April 26, the spacecraft will start a series of 22 dives through the 1,500 mile-wide gap between Saturn and its rings.

On its final orbit on September 15, Cassini will make a suicidal plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, beaming a stream of unique data back to Earth before burning up.