NASA Video Shows Saturn’s Moons Performing ‘Ballet’ Set To Tchaikovsky’s ‘Nutcracker Suite’

While Elon Musk is set on sending David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” blaring all the way to Mars, folks at NASA have been inspired by a piece of Russian ballet music for a ballet performance by Saturn’s stars. Not that the moons were actually dancing on their toes, but a compilation video released by the space agency is breathtaking all the same.

NASA has called the video “Saturn Moon Ballet” and it is divided into five acts. The video is a montage stitched together from over 60 photographs taken by the Cassini spacecraft during its 13-year mission to the Saturn system. The video is set to “Nutcracker Suite,” which is also a compilation put together by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who selected eight numbers from the score he originally composed for “The Nutcracker” ballet.

As the curtains open in the NASA video, the first act, called “Moon Jumble,” shows four of Saturn’s moons — Rhea, Janus, Mimas and Pandora. Rhea is the second-largest moon of the gas giant, while Mimas is the smallest known body in the solar system that got its shape due to its own gravity. Janus and Pandora, on the other hand, are both much smaller and irregular in shape.

The second features Tethys, Prometheus and Pandora gliding along the planet’s rings. While Tethys is larger and round, Prometheus is much smaller and is cigar-like in appearance. The third act shows Rhea and Mimas, with the smaller moon passing in front of the larger one, while Saturn’s rings loom large in the forground.

In the fourth act, only Janus can be seen as sunlight casts shadows of Saturn’s rings on the small moon. As the light moves across the moon in large bands, it creates a stunning effect, especially in the monochrome of black and white. The fifth and final act has Janus and Rhea, both moving in the same direction. Janus, which is closer than Rhea to Saturn, in terms of their orbits, starts off behind Rhea but soon overtakes its larger companion rapidly, against the backdrop of a massive Saturn whose sun-facing side appears white.

The images were all captured between Aug. 7 and Nov. 8, 2009. The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission Sept. 15, 2017, when it plunged to its death into Saturn’s thick atmosphere. In late November, NASA released the last full mosaic image of Saturn captured by the spacecraft before its mission ended.