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Atmospheric Motion
Published:
December 16, 2004
Atmospheric Motion
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Numerous stars provide a serene background in this view of Enceladus captured by the Cassini spacecraft while the moon was in eclipse, within Saturn's shadow The view looks up at Enceladus' south...
Starry Night
This topographic map from NASA's Dawn mission shows the two large impact basins in the southern hemisphere of the giant asteroid Vesta.
South Polar Impacts
This computer-enhanced photo of Saturn, taken November 13, 1980, by Voyager 1, shows Saturn's rings and their shadows against the lighted crescent of the planet. The photo was taken from a distance...
More Rings
This image, taken by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows the surface of dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 915 miles (1,470 kilometers). The image, with a resolution of 450 feet (140 meters) per pixe...
Dawn HAMO Image 19
The sharp eye of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured the tiny moon Phobos during its orbital trek around Mars.
NASA's Hubble Sees Martian Moon Orbiting the Red Planet
This image of asteroid Vesta from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a particularly smooth part of the giant asteroid's surface, likely covered in fine-grained regolith material.
Smooth, Grooved Surface
The great basin that interrupts the contours of this moon's crescent identifies the satellite unmistakably as Mimas. The giant crater Herschel (130 kilometers, or 80 miles wide) is this moon's most...
Positive ID
Launched on March 2, 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt, and the first spacecraft to make direct observations and obtain close-up images of Jupiter.
Pioneer 10 Launch
A single image from the Huygens DISR instrument of a dark plain area on Titan, seen during descent to the landing site, that indicates flow around bright 'islands'. The areas below and above the br...
Possible 'Islands' on a Dark Plain
A drawing illustrates how flows of electrons steered by Jupiter's magnetic field connect three of Jupiter's large moons with the upper atmosphere near Jupiter's north and south poles.
Auroral 'Footprints'
Titan¿s Murky Skies June 10, 2004 Full-Res: PIA05404 Titan¿s featureless atmosphere as seen in visible light glares back at the v...
Titan's Murky Skies
+ View Video In this movie sequence, Cassini watches Saturn's moon Janus and Epimetheus in their orbital dance as the F ring slides out of view. These two moons are locked in a gravitational tang...
Janus-Epimetheus Swing
Saturn's moon Enceladus, imaged at high phase, shows off its spectacular water ice plumes emanating from its south polar region. This image was captured at a phase, or sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, an...
High-Phase Plumes
This image compares midday temperatures on Saturn's moon Iapetus, recorded by the composite infrared spectrometer instrument during Cassini's close Sept. 10, 2007 flyby, with images of the same reg...
Warm and Dry on Iapetus
After more than 13 years at Saturn, and with its fate sealed, NASA's Cassini spacecraft bid farewell to the Saturnian system by firing the shutters of its wide-angle camera and capturing this last,...
A Farewell to Saturn
This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a young, fresh crater, which is about 7 km in diameter, on asteroid Vesta. This crater has both dark and bright rays fanning out from it.
Large Blocks of Rocky Material in a Young Ray Crater
Dione steps in front of Tethys for a few minutes in an occultation, or mutual event. These events occur frequently for the Cassini spacecraft when it is orbiting close to the ringplane. The image ...
Taking a Bite Out of Tethys
The Cassini orbiter has revealed many surprises within the Saturn system, including the possible presence of a ring of debris surrounding the ancient heavily cratered surface of Rhea, Saturn's ...
Rhea's Blue Streaks (Looking West)
A great vortex rolls through high southern latitudes on Saturn, whirling twisted contours into the clouds. The ringed planet's uppermost clouds are thought to be composed largely of ammonia ice ove...
Stirred-up Saturn
The Cassini spacecraft looks toward the wispy, fractured terrain of the trailing hemisphere of the moon Dione. To learn more about Dione's "wisps," see Wisps on Dione. Lit terrain seen here is o...
Wispy Line
Through the obscuring haze come glimpses of Titan's dune seas. The dark, equatorial region known as Shangri-la is visible here. Cassini radar images show that Shangri-la and other dark regions aro...
Dark Lowlands
Set starkly against the blackness of space are the F ring's delicate strands which are periodically gored by its shepherding moon, Prometheus. Prometheus (86 kilometers, or 53 miles across) and Pa...
Fragile F Ring
From a distance Saturn seems to exude an aura of serenity and peace.
Serene Saturn
Clouds and vortices churn in this beautiful, close-up view of Saturn. This image is part of a series of important Cassini observations designed to provide information about winds and convection on ...
Monitoring the Maelstrom
Pandora loops around Saturn, confining the narrow F ring as it goes. Craters are visible on the moon's surface in this view. See Pandora's Color Close-up for a closer view of Pandora (84 kilometer...
Ring Escort
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