NASA
NASA Science
Solar System Exploration
Skip Navigation
menu
close modal
Resources
Jean-Pierre Lebreton
Published:
April 11, 2011
Jean-Pierre Lebreton
ENLARGE
Related
As Saturn advances in its orbit toward equinox and the sun gradually moves northward on the planet, the motion of Saturn's ring shadows and the changing colors of its atmosphere continue to transfo...
Saturn … Four Years On
This colorized map from NASA's Dawn mission shows the distribution of minerals across the surface of the giant asteroid Vesta. It was made from spectra -- or data collected in different wavelengths...
Global Mineral Map of Vesta
Saturn's moon Mimas has many large craters, but its Herschel crater dwarfs all the rest. This large crater 130 kilometers wide (80 miles) has a prominent central peak, seen here almost exactly on t...
Herschel Dead-On
Saturn's rings slice across this scene, obscuring the cracked face of Dione. The contrast between the dark terrain on Dione's (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) trailing side and the brighte...
Hiding Dione
Too anxious to wait for the first official Mariner 4 processed image from Mars, employees attached these strips side by side to a display panel and hand colored the numbers like a paint-by-numbers ...
First Digital Image from Space (Mariner 4-Mars)
Cassini captured this look at Saturn and its rings in 2006.
Postcard from the Ring Plane
Saturn's moon Enceladus orbits serenely before a backdrop of clouds roiling the atmosphere the planet. Enceladus (504 kilometers, or 313 miles across) appears in front of the planet's rings near t...
Beyond the Tumult
Saturn's moon Enceladus looks tranquil here, concealing the true nature of this active moon. To learn about the icy plumes jetting from Enceladus' south polar region, see Plumewatch and Jet Blue. ...
Serene Enceladus
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft are located in asteroid Vesta's Marcia quadrangle, a few degrees below Vesta's equator. Octavia Crater looks remarkably like a terrestrial landslide.
HAMO and LAMO Images of Octavia Crater
Saturn's moon Rhea displays two large impact features here, along the terminator (the boundary between day and night), plus a superb rayed crater to the east. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) ...
Diversity of Impacts
This false color image of two density waves in Saturn's A ring was made from the stellar occultation observed by Cassini's ultraviolet imaging spectrograph when the spacecraft was 6.3 million kilom...
Catching Saturn's Ring Waves
This composite of Huygens DISR images shows patterns of drainage, flow and erosion in the Huygens landing site region. The top panel shows two types of drainage networks in the bright region abou...
Building Our New View of Titan II
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
The shadows of two moons appear on Saturn, above and below the plane of the planet's rings. North on Saturn is up in this image, and the shadow of Dione (1,123 kilometers, or 698 miles across) can...
Shadows Above and Below
This image was taken on 2017-08-31 06:11 (PDT) and received on Earth 2017-08-31 20:57 (PDT)
Image of Titan
This image, taken on June 18, 2015 by NASA's Dawn spacecraft, shows dwarf planet Ceres from an altitude of 2,700 miles (4,400 kilometers) -- a mountain 3 miles (5 kilometers) high, surrounded by re...
Dawn Survey Orbit Image 18
The horizontal banding visible in Saturn's clouds is a result of rising and falling air masses stretched by Saturn's rotation. Different wind speeds are observed at different latitudes. Near Saturn...
Saturn's Winds
This image from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows a relatively smooth part of asteroid Vesta's surface. This smooth texture is probably due to the surface being covered in a layer of tiny dust particles.
Dust-covered Surface with Fresh Small Craters
Saturn's atmosphere is essentially transparent at wavelengths visible to the human eye, but when the view through the atmosphere is oblique, as it is along the planet's limb (edge), it will distort...
Funhouse Atmosphere
This image of Serena AV-L-18, from the atlas of the giant asteroid Vesta, was created from images taken as NASA's Dawn mission flew around the object, also known as a protoplanet.
Serena AV-L-18
Like a drop of dew hanging on a leaf, Tethys appears to be stuck to the A and F rings from this perspective.
Stuck on the Rings
N00041287.jpg was taken on October 11, 2005 and received on Earth October 12, 2005. The camera was pointing toward TELESTO at approximately 14,630 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the...
Best Image Yet of Telesto
A pair of small moons join Saturn's second largest moon in this Cassini spacecraft image spotlighting Rhea in front of the rings. Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is in the center fore...
On Either Side
This trio of Junocam views of Earth was taken during Juno's close flyby on October 9, 2013.
Earth Triptych from NASA's Juno Spacecraft
This image was taken on March 09, 2013, and received on Earth March 10, 2013, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The camera was pointing toward Rhea at approximately 39,072 miles (62,880 kilometers) awa...
Battered Icy Moon (Raw Image)
You Might Also Like
The next full moon is the Buck Supermoon.
Full Moon Guide: July - August 2022
By identifying clouds in data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the public can help scientists.
Help NASA Scientists Find Clouds on Mars
NASA has announced that the Psyche asteroid mission will not make its planned 2022 launch attempt.
NASA Announces Launch Delay for Psyche Asteroid Mission
Hubble captured this massive galaxy cluster, called Abell 1351, with its Wide Field Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys.
Hubble Captures a Galactic Menagerie
Astronomers discovered the rocket body heading toward a lunar collision late last year. Impact occurred on March 4. LRO spotted the crater.
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Spots Rocket Impact Site on Moon
The map, to be released in batches over six months, covers most of the planet, revealing dozens of minerals found on the surface.
NASA Mars Orbiter Releasing One of Its Last Rainbow-Colored Maps