The Cassini spacecraft observes three of Saturn's moons set against the darkened night side of the planet. Saturn is present on the left this image but is too dark to see. Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is closest to Cassini here and appears largest at the center of the image. Enceladus (504 kilometers, or 313 miles across) is to the right of Rhea. Dione (1,123 kilometers, or 698 miles across) is to the left of Rhea, partly obscured by Saturn. Image taken April 25, 2011. Released on March 26, 2013. [Full Story]
The effects of the small moon Prometheus loom large on two of Saturn's rings in this image taken a short time before Saturn's August 2009 equinox. A long, thin shadow cast by the moon stretches across the A ring on the right. The gravity of potato-shaped Prometheus (86 kilometers, or 53 miles across) periodically creates streamer-channels in the F ring, and the moon's handiwork can seen be on the left of the image. Image released Jan. 28, 2010 Released on March 26, 2013. [Full Story]
These two global images of Iapetus show the extreme brightness dichotomy on the surface of this peculiar Saturnian moon. The left-hand panel shows the moon's leading hemisphere and the right-hand panel shows the moon's trailing side. Image published Dec. 10, 2009. Released on March 26, 2013. [Full Story]
This photo, taken in August by the Cassini orbiter, shows Saturn, Janus and Mimas as well as the planet's distinctive rings.
This image, captured by the Cassini orbiter on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and beamed to Earth on Dec. 26., shows details of Saturn's turbulent surface.
Saturn's moon Mimas appears near Saturn, dwarfed by its parent planet in this image. Mimas (246 miles, or 396 kilometers across) appears tiny compared to the storms clearly visible in far northern and southern hemispheres of Saturn. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 20, 2012.
This six-image mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft captures Saturn, its rings and the planet's giant moon Titan. The probe snapped the shots on May 6, 2012, when it was about 483,000 miles from Titan. Image scale is 29 miles per pixel on Titan.
The south polar vortex of Saturn's moon Titan stands out in this natural-color view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, snapped on July 25, 2012.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the night side of Saturn's moon Titan and sees sunlight scattering its atmosphere, forming a colorful ring. The images were acquired on June 6, 2012, when Cassini was about 134,000 miles from Titan. Image scale is 8 miles per pixel.
The haze of Titan's atmosphere stands out in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn.
This raw, unprocessed image of the Saturn moon Methone was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 20, 2012.
This raw, unprocessed image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 20, 2012. The camera was pointing toward the Saturn moon Tethys at approximately 81,580 miles (131,290 kilometers) away.
This raw, unprocessed image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 2, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Enceladus at approximately 239,799 miles (385,919 kilometers) away.
This raw, unprocessed image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 1, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Enceladus at approximately 260,443 miles (419,142 kilometers) away.
This raw, unprocessed image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 2, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Dione at approximately 14,835 miles (23,875 kilometers) away.
The camera was pointing toward Dione at approximately 8,416 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2013. The image was taken on May 02, 2012 and received on Earth May 03, 2012.
This raw, unprocessed image was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on May 2, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Dione at approximately 9,434 miles (15,183 kilometers) away.
From the inside out, the "Cassini division" in faint red at left is followed by the A ring in its entirety in this ultraviolet-light image. The A ring begins with a "dirty" interior of red followed by more blue as it spreads away from the planet. The blue is a signature of water ice. The red band roughly three-fourths of the way outward in the A ring is known as the Encke gap.
After months of searching, the Cassini orbiter circling Saturn has finally photographed the spokes in the planet's rings.
With this fabulous, full-disk mosaic, Cassini presents the best view yet of the south pole of Tethys.
This sequence of three images, obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft over the course of about 10 minutes, shows the path of a newly found moonlet in a bright arc of Saturn's faint G ring.
These two side-by-side views show the longest-lived electrical storm yet observed on Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. On the left is a view of the storm as it would look to the human eye, while an enhanced version to bring out the storm is at right.
A collection of Cassini images providing context for the location and size of the propeller-shaped gaps found in Saturn's A-ring.
A new picture of Titan by the Cassini spacecraft reveals a bright region in the middle named Xanadu. Scientists don't know what it is.
This view of Titan's south polar region reveals an intriguing dark feature that may be the site of a past or present lake of liquid hydrocarbons.
This composite image shows the cloud, imaged at a distance of 90,000 kilometers (54,000 miles) during a Titan flyby designed to observe the limb of the moon. The cloud extends down to 60 degrees north latitude.
Saturn's rings obscure part of Titan in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, taken on May 16, 2012, at a distance of about 1.9 million miles from Titan. Image scale is 11 miles per pixel on Titan.
A bizarre six-sided feature encircling the north pole of Saturn near 78 degrees north latitude has been spied by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
False color Cassini image illustrating the jets of fine icy particles erupting from the south polar region of Enceladus. Please
A new view of the Saturn moon Iapetus, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft. Here, an odd walnut-like mountain range is shown along the moon's equator.
This three-image mosaic is the highest resolution view yet obtained of Enceladus' north polar region. The view looks southward over cratered plains from high above the north pole of Enceladus. NASA's Cassini probe caught this view during a March 12, 2008 flyby.
Cassini stares deep into the swirling hurricane-like vortex at Saturn's south pole, where the vertical structure of the clouds is highlighted by shadows. Such a storm, with a well-developed eye ringed by towering clouds, is a phenomenon never before seen on another planet.
A composite of several Cassini images shows Titan's varied surface, including possibly a remnant of an old impact basin (large circular feature near the center of Titan's disk). Mountain ranges to the southeast of the circular feature, and the dark linear feature to the northwest of the circular impact scar may be evidence of past tectonic activity.
The Cassini spacecraft looks toward the dark side of Saturn's largest moon as a circle of light is produced by sunlight scattering through the periphery of Titan's atmosphere.
This raw image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken on March 27, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Enceladus at approximately 144,281 miles (232,197 kilometers) away.
This raw image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken on March 27, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Enceladus at approximately 69,475 miles (111,809 kilometers) away.
This raw image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken on March 27, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Enceladus at approximately 19,810 miles (31,881 kilometers) away.
This raw image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken on March 27, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Enceladus at approximately 19,810 miles (31,881 kilometers) away.
This raw image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken on March 28, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Dione at approximately 49,087 miles (78,998 kilometers) away.
This raw image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was taken on March 28, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Dione at approximately 27,668 miles (44,528 kilometers) away.
Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus hangs below the gas giant’s rings while Titan lurks in the background, in this new image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on March 12, 2012.
Clumpy particles in Saturn’s B-ring provide stark contrast to the delicately ordered ringlets seen in the rest of this view presented by the Cassini spacecraft. Image taken July 10, 2009.
