Saturn's images by Cassini astound public

The Cassini-Huygens space craft beamed back yet another astonishing image of Saturn, released to the public yesterday. This will be the last full view of the planet because as the craft closes in on its target, the rings will be larger than its camera's field of view.

Professor Carl Murray from Queen Mary, University of London and member of the Cassini Imaging Science Team said in a statement: "The images from Cassini continue to astound us with their clarity and detail as Saturn looms large in the field of view. As Cassini nears its dramatic rendezvous with the ringed planet in July we can expect a continual stream of images revealing the wonders of the Saturn system," reports theregister.co.uk

According to BBC the double spacecraft is now just two months away from arriving at the ringed planet to begin a four-year expedition of the gas giant and its many moons.

The latest image, taken from 48 million km away, fills the entire field of view of Cassini's narrow angle camera.

Cassini is the mission's primary probe; the piggybacked Huygens is a lander which will attempt to land on the oily seas of Saturn's major moon, Titan.

The latest picture, acquired on 27 March, is actually a composite of three exposures, in red, green and blue. Each pixel represents 286km (178 miles).

It is the last image in which the narrow angle camera will be able to see the whole of Saturn.