NASA
NASA Science
Solar System Exploration
Skip Navigation
menu
close modal
Resources
Atmospheric Motion
Published:
September 17, 2004
Atmospheric Motion
ENLARGE
Related
Saturn: Journey to a Ringed World - Spotlight: Why go to Saturn?
Saturn: Journey to a Ringed World - Spotlight: Why go to Saturn?
During its final months, the Cassini spacecraft will climb repeatedly high above the planet’s north pole and then dive between the planet and the innermost edge of its dazzling rings.
Orbit Plot: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)
Map projection of Charon, the largest of Pluto's five moons, annotated with its first set of official feature names.
Charon's First Official Feature Names
This composite image, which has become a popular poster, shows a global view of Earth at night, compiled from over 400 satellite images
Earth at Night
This illustration depicts potential origins of methane found in the plume of gas and ice particles that sprays from Saturn's moon, Enceladus, based on research by scientists working with the Ion an...
Trapping of Methane In Enceladus' Ocean
This series of maps of Saturn's moon Iapetus shows how a computer model of migrating ice can explain most features of Iapetus' global appearance. The model starts with Iapetus uniformly covered in ...
Thermal Runaway Model
This three-frame animation from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the swirling clouds in a vortex spawned by a great northern storm on Saturn. The clouds are moving in a clockwise direction. These...
Swirling Vortex
This synthetic aperture radar image was obtained by the Cassini spacecraft on its recent pass by Titan's south pole on Dec. 20, 2007. This portion of the (T39) swath is of the region extending f...
Radar Images Titan's South Pole
An artist's rendition of the InSight lander operating on the surface of Mars.
InSight on the Surface of Mars
This graphic, constructed from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows the percentage of cloud coverage across the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. The color scale from black to yellow sig...
Mapping Titan's Cloud Coverage
A simplified model of Jupiter's massive magnetic field, known as a magnetosphere.
Jupiter's Magnetic Field Visualization
The University of Arizona's commemorative poster celebrating OSIRIS-REx’s successful sample collection of asteroid Bennu.
OSIRIS-REx Sample Collection Poster
On Nov. 9, 2006, Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer captured its first view of the infrared heat radiation emanating from the "tiger stripe" fractures at the south pole of Saturn's moon Ence...
Enceladus Keeps the Home Fires Burning
This still is from a short computer-animated film that highlights Cassini's accomplishments and Saturn and reveals the science-packed final orbits between April and September 2017.
Entering Atmosphere 1
This infrared projection map of Titan was composed from images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, visual and infrared mapping spectrometer. The location of two regions that changed in brightness a...
Infrared Map of Titan's Active Regions
+ See Unannotated Version + High Resolution Version This artist’s concept shows a possible model of Titan’s internal structure that incorporates data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. In this m...
Layers of Titan -- Annotated
In its five-year tour of the Saturn system, Cassini has sent home a bounty of fruitful images showing delectable scenes that fill the mind with wonder and awe.
The Saturn System: A Feast for the Eyes
This computer-generated animation shows all of Cassini's orbits - affectionaly called the "ball of yarn" by mission planners.
The Ball of Yarn: Cassini's Orbits
This artist's concept shows "tides" on Titan raised by Saturn's gravity, as detected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Saturn's gravitational pull on Titan, its largest moon, varies as Titan orbits ...
Squeezing and Stretching Titan
This 2001 poster was created with the help of student artists in Los Angeles early in the Cassini mission. It depicts the mythological story of Saturn combined with images of space exploration.
Cassini: Unveiling the Myth
An artist's concept of the Cassini spacecraft crossing Saturn's ring plane during one of the mission's final orbit.
Ring Crossing: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)
This still is from a short computer-animated film that highlights Cassini's accomplishments and Saturn and reveals the science-packed final orbits between April and September 2017.
Ring Dive 2
This graphic depicts the interplanetary flight path beginning with launch from Earth on 15 October 1997, followed by gravity assist flybys of Venus (26 April 1998 and 24 June 1999), Earth (18 Augus...
Interplanetary Trajectory
These illustrations indicate possible ways in which the water vapor and ice particles in the plume of Enceladus may be formed. The Cassini spacecraft recently found a small fraction of salt-rich ic...
Plume Vent Models
Artist's rendition of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft at Jupiter.
Pioneer 10 at Jupiter (Artist's Concept)
You Might Also Like
NASA's Lucy spacecraft observed the May 15-16, 2022, total lunar eclipse from 64 million miles from the Earth.
NASA's Lucy Mission Observes a Lunar Eclipse
Completing a nearly 30-year marathon, Hubble has calibrated more than 40 "milepost markers" of space and time.
Hubble Reaches New Milestone in Mystery of Universe's Expansion Rate
Dusty solar panels and darker skies are expected to bring the Mars lander mission to a close around the end of this year.
NASA's InSight Still Hunting Marsquakes as Power Levels Diminish
While the spacecraft continues to otherwise operate as normal, the mission team is searching for the source of a system data issue.
Engineers Investigating NASA's Voyager 1 Telemetry Data
The next full moon is the Flower Moon and there will be a total lunar eclipse.
Full Moon Guide: May - June 2022
NASA has extended the planetary science missions of eight of its spacecraft due to their scientific productivity and potential to deepen our knowledge.
Exploration Extended for 8 Planetary Science Missions