Backlit Saturn Rings: Brightness Inversion

When backlit, Saturn’s rings are far from pure black—instead, they appear in their most magnificent form.

More extreme is the forward scattering of dust, which makes it glow, so it is almost only visible in backlight; under direct light it is practically invisible.

This is how Cassini captured those famous backlit images of Saturn, and incidentally photographed Earth between the ring gaps.