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A Tectonic Feast
Credit: The Cassini spacecraft has been studying Saturn and its moons since it entered orbit in 2004. These 15 snapshots were some of its most popular as Cassini began an extended mission that now stretches to 2017. This image, taken on Oct. 5, 2008, is a stunnin
The Cassini spacecraft has been studying Saturn and its moons since it entered orbit in 2004. These 15 snapshots were some of its most popular as Cassini began an extended mission that now stretches to 2017. This image, taken on Oct. 5, 2008, is a stunning mosaic of the geologically active Enceladus after a Cassini flyby.
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Icy Rhea
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The Cassini spacecraft looks toward the Rhea's cratered, icy landscape with the dark line of Saturn's ringplane and the planet's murky atmosphere as a background. Rhea is Saturn's second-largest moon, at 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across. This image was taken on Oct. 20, 2008.
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Moons on the Move
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Titan emerges from behind Saturn while Tethys streaks into view in this colorful scene on March 24, 2008. Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) wide; Tethys is 1,071 kilometers (665 miles) wide. Saturn's shadow darkens the far arm of the rings near the planet's limb.
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Saturnian Polar Aurora
Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
This Nov. 12, 2008 image of the northern polar region of Saturn shows both the aurora and underlying atmosphere, seen at two different wavelengths of infrared light by Cassini. The image shows both a bright ring, as seen from Earth, as well as an example of bright auroral emission within the polar cap that had been undetected until the advent of Cassini.
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Saturn … Four Years On
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
This image of Saturn -- a mosaic of 30 photos -- was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 30, 2008.
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Flowing Liquids on Titan
Credit: NASA/JPL
Abundant evidence for flowing liquids is seen in this view of Saturn’s moon Titan, from sinuous, wide river channels to shorter, more chaotic drainage patterns. This radar view of Titan's south pole was taken on Dec. 20, 2007.
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Feeling the Tug of Gravity
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
The brilliant moon Prometheus pulls at the nearby inner strand of Saturn's F ring in this Aug. 27, 2008 view. Gravitational tugs from Prometheus are constantly reshaping this narrow ring. Prometheus is about 53 miles (86 km) across at its widest point.
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Skeet Shoot at Enceladus
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
This image is the fourth skeet-shoot footprint taken during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008. Cairo Sulcus is shown crossing the upper left portion of the image. An unnamed fracture curves around the lower right corner.
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Titan Approaches Saturn
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Swathed in its thick blanket of atmosphere, frigid Titan approaches the brilliant limb of Saturn on March 14, 2008.
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The Rings of Saturn
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Details of Saturn's icy rings are visible in this sweeping view from Cassini of the planet's glorious ring system. The total span, from A ring to F ring, covers approximately 40,800 miles (65,700 km) and was photographed at Nov. 26, 2008.
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Saturn Vortex
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
This detailed Cassini view of the monstrous vortex at Saturn's south pole provides valuable insight about the mechanisms that power the planet's atmosphere. This view, taken on July, 14, 2008, is 10 times more detailed than any previous image of the polar vortex.
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Jet Spots in Tiger Stripes
Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC/SwRI/SSI
Heat radiating from the entire length of 95-mile (150-km) long fractures is seen in this best-yet heat map of the active south polar region of Saturn's ice moon Enceladus. The data was collected on March 12, 2008.
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Saturn's North Pole Hot Spot and Hexagon
Credit: NASA/JPL/GSFC/Oxford University
Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer discovered an unexpected "hot spot" at Saturn's north pole. Despite being in winter darkness for more than a decade, the hot, cyclonic vortex at upon Saturn's northernmost reaches appears very similar to that found on Saturn's much sunnier south pole, and it surprised scientists with its appearance.
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The Persistent Hexagon
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Saturn's north polar hexagon appears to be a long-lived feature of the atmosphere, having been spotted in images of Saturn in the early 1980s, again in the 1990s, and then by the Cassini spacecraft in the past several years. The persistent nature of the hexagon in imaging observations implies that it is present throughout Saturn's 29-year seasonal cycle. Two sides of the hexagon are seen here on Aug. 25, 2008
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Profile of Janus
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
This shadowy scene is one of the Cassini spacecraft's closest views of Saturn's moon Janus. The moon is 111 miles (179 km) across and was photographed by Cassini on June 30, 2008.
