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People around the world wave at Saturn

A raw image of Earth seen from Saturn. Earth is the small, bright spot seen at lower centre. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

TORONTO – On Friday, thousands of people around the world looked up and waved at a camera that was 1,445,854,740 km from Earth.

They were all participating in NASA’s Wave at Saturn event that was organized by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Cassini, the spacecraft that has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, turned its camera to Earth for 15 minutes on Friday. Though it has taken images of Earth and Saturn together before, this marked the first time that it did so in natural colour.

Scientists are assembling the photos to make one single mosaic of the entire planet of Saturn together with Earth.

To view raw images of the event, visit Cassini’s Solstice Mission site and search for “SATURN-RINGS” and “SATURN-ERING” as the target with the dates of 07/18/2013 through 07/20/2013.

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Earth and the moon seen from Saturn. On July 19, the Cassini spacecraft imaged Earth for 15 minutes in natural colour. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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