Inspiration

Ultraviolet and infrared images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope show active and quiet auroras at Saturn's north and south poles. Saturn's auroras glow when energetic el...

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

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

Saturn reaches opposition -- the closest it comes to Earth -- on Jan. 27, 2006. On this date, golden Saturn rises in the east just as the sun sets in the west. It will be visible all night long. A...

On July 11, 2005, the Cassini ultraviolet imaging spectrograph observed the star Bellatrix as it passed behind Enceladus, as seen from the spacecraft. The starlight was observed to dim when it got ...

These three posters imagine future tourism possibilities based on the rich history of Saturn exploration from the twin Voyager's Grand Tour to the epic discoveries made by the Cassini-Huygens missi...

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...

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...

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...

Measurements by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft reveal temperatures in a high layer of Saturn's atmosphere known as the stratosphere and show the dramatic effects of the massive storm deep below. In thes...

Details of the circular feature, which scientists think is an ice volcano, which could be a source of methane in Titan's atmosphere, show up at wavelengths larger than 1.3 microns (a micron is one-...

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

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

+ View high res + View unannotated version + View contrast enhanced version On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow ...

In the decade since NASA’s Cassini delivered ESA’s Huygens probe to the hidden surface of Titan, our knowledge of Saturn’s largest moon has grown by leaps and bounds.

An artist's impression of the Huygens probe on the surface of Titan.

This graphic shows Cassini's final plunge toward Saturn from a top view. 

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...

For an Earth observer on May 3, 2005, the Cassini spacecraft appeared to pass behind the rings, then Saturn, then the rings again (the red line). The discovered harmonic structure was found on both...

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...

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.

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...

+ Unannotated Version This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows an ancient southern sea that used to sprawl out near the south pole of Saturn's moon Titan. In an annotated version, the red...

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.

This graphic shows NASA's Science Mission Directorate spacecraft fleet.