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Release of Probe
Published:
December 7, 2004
Release of Probe
ENLARGE
Related
This raw image of Saturn's moon Enceladus was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 20, 2010. The spacecraft was approximately 158,000 kilometers (98,000 miles) away from Enceladus. Image cre...
Dark Moon, Bright Spray
This high-resolution geological map of Vesta is derived from NASA's Dawn spacecraft data.
Geological Map of Vesta
Titan's surface revealed July 3, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06405 Piercing the ubiquitous layer of smog ...
Titan's surface revealed
Nine days before it entered orbit, Cassini spacecraft captured this exquisite natural color view of Saturn's rings. The images that make up this composition were obtained from Cassini's vantage p...
Ringscape In Color
This image taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows Emesh, a crater on Ceres. Emesh, named after the Sumerian god of vegetation and agriculture, located at the edge of the Vendimia Planitia.
Emesh Crater on Ceres
Appearing like a cyclops gazing off into space, Saturn's moon Mimas and its large Herschel Crater are profiled in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Herschel Crater is 130 kilometers, or 80...
Mimas Three-Quarter Portrait
This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers). The image, with a resolution of 1,400 feet (410 meters) per pixel, was take...
Dawn Survey Orbit Image 31
This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows ejecta from two of the large "Snowman" craters on the left of the image. This ejecta smooths out asteroid Vesta's surface in the rest of the image.
Ejecta from Vesta's 'Snowman' Craters
This global map of Saturn's moon Tethys was created using images taken during Cassini spacecraft flybys, with Voyager images filling in the gaps in Cassini's coverage. The map is an equidistant (s...
Map of Tethys -- August 2008
Five moons -- dominated by Rhea in the foreground -- share this Cassini spacecraft view with Saturn's rings seen nearly edge-on. Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is largest here and is...
Five Orbs
A group of scientists from NASA's Dawn mission suggests that when sunlight reaches Ceres' Occator Crater, a kind of thin haze of dust and evaporating water forms there. Occator measures about 60 mi...
Lateral View of Occator
Behold Titan's Surface October 27, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06982 These images show the surface of Titan at...
Behold Titan's Surface
Looming like a giant flying saucer in our outer solar system, Saturn puts on a show as the planet and its magnificent ring system nod majestically over the course of its 29-year journey around the ...
A Change of Seasons on Saturn
This image NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows is located in Vesta's Rheasilvia quadrangle, near Vesta's south pole. Severina crater has a fresh, sharp rim and a smaller, presumably younger, crater on its...
Severina Crater
These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moon Dione were taken on Dec. 12, 2011, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Although Cassini obtained more detailed images on previous flybys of Dione, this was ...
Dione Rev 158 Raw Preview -- Image 5
Saturn poses with Tethys in this Cassini view. The C ring casts thin, string-like shadows on the northern hemisphere. Above that lurks the shadow of the much denser B ring. Cloud bands in the atmo...
Saturn and Tethys
This animated movie shows the simulated solar wind velocity from March 21 to May 10, 2013.
Animation of Spaceweather Predictors 2
The Cassini spacecraft and Huygens probe begin their seven-year journey to the ringed planet. The successful launch of Cassini aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur occured at 4:43 a.m. EDT, October 15, 1997....
Through the Clouds
An enigmatic large basin appears in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Titan at the center of this Titan Radar Mapper image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft acquired on June 22, 2009. Centere...
South Polar Basin on Titan
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Urbinia quadrangle, in asteroid Vesta's southern hemisphere.
Apparent Brightness and Topography Images of Canuleia Crater
NASA's Cassini spacecraft sees bright methane clouds drifting in the summer skies of Saturn's moon Titan, along with dark hydrocarbon lakes and seas clustered around the north pole.
Northern Summer on Titan
This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft is located in Lucaria Tholus quadrangle, in Vesta's northern hemisphere. Around Publicia's rim are many alternating streaks of bright and dark material tumbli...
Publicia Crater
Cassini imaging scientists used views like this one to help them identify the source locations for individual jets spurting ice particles, water vapor and trace organic compounds from the surface o...
Jet Blue
Surely one of the most gorgeous sights the solar system has to offer, Saturn sits enveloped by the full splendor of its stately rings. Taking in the rings in their entirety was the focus of this p...
Blinding Saturn
Saturn's shadow cloaks the faint D ring at the bottom of this image. Observations of the shadow boundary, like this one, enable scientists to clearly detect and measure the brightness of diffus...
Science at the Shadow Boundary
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Curiosity on the Move Again
