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Mysterious NASA Image Seems To Show A Weird ‘Bend’ In Saturn’s Rings

An image captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows something very, very strange - a ‘bend’ in Saturn’s famous rings.

But before conspiracy theorists pile in, it’s a perfectly natural phenomenon, NASA says.

The space agency says, ‘In its upper regions, Saturn’s atmosphere absorbs some of the light reflected by the rings as it passes through.

‘But absorption is not the only thing that happens to that light. As it passes from space to the atmosphere and back out into space towards Cassini’s cameras, its path is refracted, or bent. The result is that the ring’s image appears warped.’

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 9, 2016.

NASA’s Cassini probe has been exploring Saturn and its 60 moons for more than 10 years.

The image was taken at roughly 1.1 million miles from the rings - which shine out so brightly that stars are never visible in images of Saturn and its rings.