Backstage Pass to Iapetus

This graphic illustrates Cassini's trajectory, or flight path, during the final two phases of its mission. The 20 Ring-Grazing Orbits are shown in gray; the 22 Grand Finale Orbits are shown in blue...

This false-color image, made from infrared data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows dark and bright clouds on Saturn associated with thunderstorm activity. Convection generated by the stor...

+ Version with labels Cassini shot past the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Aug. 11, 2008, acquiring a set of seven high-resolution images targeting known jet source locations on the moo...

Jets of high-density gas detected by Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph on Saturn's moon Enceladus match the locations of dust jets determined from Cassini images, labeled here with Roman n...

A simplified model of Jupiter's massive magnetic field, known as a  magnetosphere.

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.

Full-Res Image   After nearly seven years of space travel, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will arrive at Saturn on June 30. In a maneuver called orbit insertion, Cassini will slow itself down ...

This false-color image of Saturn was constructed by combining three images at three different infrared wavelengths. The image at the upper left was taken at 1.3 microns, where both Saturn and its ...

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.​

The plot shows the type of data the magnetometer measures. These data were taken during Saturn orbit insertion. Cassini is measuring the three components of the magnetic field (the strength of t...

The left image is a false-color view of Saturn's A ring from the ultraviolet imaging spectrograph instrument aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The ring is the bluest in the center, where the gravitat...

Cassini is honored to be one of NASA's annual π (pi) day challenges. 

+ High Res This map of Saturn’s moon Titan identifies the locations of mountains that have been named by the International Astronomical Union. By convention, mountains on Titan are named for mou...

Saturn: Journey to a Ringed World - Spotlight: Why go to Saturn?

+ Unannotated version These images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show one of the large seas and a bounty of smaller lakes on Saturn's moon Titan. Scientists saw these small lakes in data obtain...

+ View Related Story At the end of the formation of Saturn's satellites, a Titan-sized satellite spirals inward towards the planet due to interaction with the primordial circumplanetary gas disk...

This graphic shows the trajectory for the Cassini spacecraft during its flyby of the icy moon Enceladus on Oct. 31, 2008. At closet approach Cassini will be 197 kilometers (122.3 miles) from the su...

This illustration shows Cassini above Saturn's northern hemisphere prior to making one of its Grand Finale dives.

+ View Image Without Labels This false-color image of Saturn's main rings was made by combining data from multiple star occultations using the Cassini ultraviolet imaging spectrograph. During occ...

New data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft suggest that the shape of our solar system moving through the local Milky Way galaxy looks like a bubble.

Presented here is a complete set of cartographic map sheets from a high-resolution Tethys atlas, a project of the Cassini Imaging Team. The map sheets form a 15-quadrangle series covering the en...

Pioneer and Voyager trajectories through the early 1990s.

This artist’s concept shows a possible scenario for the internal structure of Titan, as suggested by data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Scientists have been trying to determine what is under Tita...

Eight of Cassini's science instruments are planned to be turned on during the final plunge.

The Cassini mission’s epic 13-year exploration of Saturn is coming to a close. On Sept. 15, the spacecraft will make a planned plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn in order to protect pristine icy ...