The planet Saturn shines with a smooth blend of pastel colors in this view from the Cassini spacecraft.

Pale rose, sapphire and butterscotch hues soften Saturn’s inhospital nature as shadows play across its rings and northern regions.

Hugging the planet’s ringplane just right of center (appearing as small blip) is Enceladus, a 314-mile (505-kilometer) wide moon that sports geysers of liquid water.

Astronomers believe the blue color seen here to be a seasonal effect. Cassini took this image, released recently, on March 16, 2006 using its wide-angle camera along with red, blue and green filters to approximate what the human eye would see. The spacecraft was 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) from Saturn at the time this image was taken.

• Length of Saturn's Day Updated Based on Mystery Signal
• Saturn’s Rings Created by Collision
• Cassini Finds Signs of Liquid Water on Saturn's Moon
• Special Report: Cassini’s Mission to Saturn and its Moons

-- SPACE.com Staff

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.