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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 29

Explanation: Where are Saturn's ears? is credited, in 1610, as the first person to see . Testing out 's recently , Galileo did not know what they were and so called them "". The mystery deepened in 1612, when Saturn's ears . Today we know exactly what happened: from the perspective of the , Saturn's rings had become to see. The same drama every 15 years because Saturn, like Earth, undergoes . This means that as Saturn goes around the Sun, its and can tilt noticeably toward the Sun and inner , making them easily visible, but from other orbital locations will appear almost not at all. The from , shows a modern version of this sequence: the top ring-dominated image was taken in 2020, while the bottom ring-obscure image taken earlier in 2025.

Authors & editors: () & ()
NASA Official: Amber Straughn .
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