Skip Navigation
menu close modal

Resources

The Saturn System: A Feast for the Eyes

The Saturn System: A Feast for the Eyes -- artists rendition of the Cassini spacecraft shown among images it has returned from the Saturnian system
Published: September 22, 2009

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.

Related

This is the separate version of the infrared image that accompanies the feature Cassini Sees Saturn Storm's Explosive Power The visible-light image can be seen separately here: Catching Its Tail...
More
Infrared view of the Saturn storm
Two Looks at the Turbulent Saturn Storm -- Infrared Image
This composite image, which has become a popular poster, shows a global view of Earth at night, compiled from over 400 satellite images
More
Global image of city lights.
Earth at Night
A whimsical mission poster inspired by a classic rock concert poster.
More
Cassini mission poster illustrated as a classic rock concert poster.
Cassini Retro Poster: Swan Song
+ Non-annotated version This false-color view of Saturn's moon Mimas from NASA's Cassini spacecraft accentuates terrain-dependent color differences and shows dark streaks running down the sides ...
More
This false-color view of Mimas accentuates terrain-dependent color differences and shows dark streaks running down the sides of some of the craters
Color Near Herschel Crater (annotated)
This illustration shows the interior of Saturn, including its core of heavy elements (orange), liquid metallic hydrogen layer (grey), and gaseous molecular hydrogen envelope (brown). 
More
Illustration showing the layers of gas and a possible core inside Saturn.
Saturn Interior Cutaway (Illustration)
The discovery of Enceladus' icy jets and their role in creating Saturn's E-ring is one of the top findings of the Cassini mission to Saturn.
More
Enceladus travel poster
Enceladus Travel Poster
​On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn fighting to keep its antenna pointed at Earth as it transmits its farewell. In the skies of Saturn, the journey ends, as Cassini becomes part of...
More
Short animation depicting Cassini's entry in the atmosphere.
Cassini's Final Plunge
Saturn's clouds and hazes at three different levels in the atmosphere are depicted in the image on the right, as observed by the visual infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft. In ...
More
Saturn's clouds and hazes at three different levels in the atmosphere are depicted in the image on the right. The image on the left shows only the upperatmosphere above the 1-bar level.
A 3-D View of Saturn's Clouds and Hazes
The Cassini composite infrared spectrometer obtained temperature maps of Saturn's main rings (A, B and C) that showed ring temperatures decreasing with increasing solar phase angle (the change of t...
More
This image shows temperature maps of Saturns main rings (A, B and C)
Slower Spinning Rings #1
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...
More
Enceladus Temperature Map
Enceladus Temperature Map
Cassini's path into Saturn's upper atmosphere, with tick marks every 10 seconds. 
More
Graphic of Cassini's path into Saturn's upper atmosphere
Cassini's path into Saturn's upper atmosphere
Artist's concept of our solar system showing a sense of scale and distance.
More
Illustration of the planets of our solar system lined up with each other.
Solar System Scales (Artist's Concept)
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...
More
Two views of Enceladus shoing the location of warmer areas
Enceladus Keeps the Home Fires Burning
Version A of the asteroids installment of our solar system poster series.
More
A movie-style asteroid poster.
Asteroids Poster - Version A
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.
More
Huygens landing
Huygens Landing
+ Version without 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 mo...
More
Enceladus
Baghdad and Cairo Sulci on Enceladus (labeled)
This graphic shows the mean temperatures of various destinations in our solar system. (Planets not to scale.)
More
Thermometer showing mean temperatures of planets
Solar System Temperatures
Artist's concept of the final orbits of the Cassini spacraft at Saturn.
More
Illustration of orbital paths.
The Final Orbits: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)
+ Related Interactive: Anatomy of a Flyby This graphic shows the trajectory for the Cassini spacecraft during its close brush with the icy outpost of Enceladus on March 12, 2008. At closet appro...
More
Graphic of Cassini trajectory -- Enceladus flyby, March 12, 2008
Enceladus Flyby - March 12, 2008
NASA's Cassini mission is closing one chapter of its journey at Saturn and embarking on a new one with a two-year mission that will address new questions and bring it closer to two of its most intr...
More
Artist's rendition of Cassini at Saturn
Cassini's Adventure Ends, and Begins Anew
Version B of the asteroids installment of our solar system poster series.
More
A movie-style asteroid poster.
Asteroids Poster - Version B
+ 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...
More
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 during flybys in December 2011.
Map of Enceladus - December 2011 -- Annotated
This artist's concept shows the approximate relative sizes of the terrestrial planets of the inner solar system. Correct distances are not shown.
More
Line up showing four rocky planets in a row.
Terrestrial Planet Sizes
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...
More
Type of data collected by Cassini's MAG instrument
MAG Data -- Saturn Orbit Insertion
The lower panel is a mass spectrum that shows the chemical constituents sampled in Enceladus' plume by Cassini's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer during its fly-through of the plume on Mar. 12, 20...
More
This mass spectrum shows the chemical constituents sampled in Enceladus' plume
Enceladus Plume Neutral Mass Spectrum Description

You Might Also Like