Cassini and Messenger spacecrafts to photograph Earth A monster hurricane at Saturn's North Pole captured by the Cassini spacecraft's imaging cameras. Picture: NASA Source: AP NASA is inviting the public to look skyward and wave at Saturn and Mercury in what is billed as an interplanetary photo op. The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn and the Messenger craft circling Mercury moved into position today to take pictures of Earth, which will appear as a dot. At the time of today's Cassini photo shoot, North America will be in sunlight. Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia will be illuminated in portraits by Messenger on Friday and Saturday. Scientists say the snapshots of Earth are part of a bigger effort to study Saturn's shimmering rings and search for moons around Mercury. It will take days to weeks to process the images.