Backstage Pass to Iapetus

This computer-generated animation shows all of Cassini's orbits - affectionaly called the "ball of yarn" by mission planners.

Artist's concept of Mars Global Surveyor in orbit above the Red Planet.

A labeled diagram of the Dawn spaccraft.

This image shows the surprise that startled Cassini scientists on the composite infrared spectrometer team when they got their first look at the infrared (heat) radiation from the south pole of Sat...

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

This figure shows shifting stratospheric temperatures obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft between 2005 (left) to 2008 (right). The difference between the temperatures is shown in the middle, with...

This colorized mosaic from NASA's Cassini mission shows the most complete view yet of Titan's northern land of lakes and seas. Saturn's moon Titan is the only world in our solar system other than E...

For Cassini's next flyby of Titan on May 12, 2007, the radar instrument was originally pointing north of where it is now pointed. Due to the discovery of probable large seas on Titan, Cassini's qui...

+ Unnnotated Version This mosaic shows an updated global map of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, created using images taken during Cassini spacecraft flybys. The map incorporates new images taken du...

This graphic shows the closest approaches, or periapses, of Cassini's final two orbital phases.The Ring-Grazing orbits are shown in gray; Grand Finale orbits are shown in blue. The orange line show...

This image, which is composed of data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows the topography of a mountain known as Janiculum Dorsa on the Saturnian moon Dione.

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...

See also the non-annotated version. Astronomers have long known that Saturn's rings reflect sunlight most strongly when Earth is located directly between Saturn and the sun. Flat, shiny surfaces (...

Temperature changes mapped with Cassini's composite and infrared spectrometer throughout Saturn's main rings show the ring temperatures decreasing with the increase of the Sun-spacecraft-ring angle...

This temperature map of Saturn's moon Iapetus is constructed from observations of Iapetus's infrared heat radiation taken with the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer instrument during the Dec....

It was a busy decade for Cassini. Here is the breakdown.

The European Space Agency has set up a special gallery for the more than 350 raw images snapped by the Huygens probe as it descended to Titan on Jan. 14, 2005. Visit the gallery at: http://esamulti...

Tholin formation in Titan's upper atmosphere Credit: Southwest Research Institute

The University of Arizona's commemorative poster celebrating OSIRIS-REx's arrival at asteroid Bennu in December 2018.

This short animation created by Cassini's mission planning team shows how a Titan flyby will be used to move the spacecraft's course from orbiting Cassini's outer ring (F ring) to an orbit that tak...

Saturn is sending out mixed signals in recent data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The Mariner Mark II spacecraft that was designed to handle both the CRAF, Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby mission, and the Cassini mission.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted a glowing patch of ultraviolet light near Saturn's north pole that marks the presence of an electrical circuit that connects Saturn with its moon Enceladus. 

Saturday, April 16 is National Astronomy Day. Astronomy clubs around the country hold special astronomy programs on this day and night. Events usually include solar viewing during the day and solar...

Artist's concept of Cassini orbiter crossing Saturn's ring plane.