Whirlwinds of Saturn
October 23, 2007

Incredible gales blow in Saturn's twisted atmosphere. Winds in this region of Saturn have been measured at greater than 360 kilometers (225 miles) per hour, faster than the most powerful hurricanes on Earth.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 17, 2007, using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 3.5 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 21 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Ice Spread Thin
October 25, 2007

Saturn's incredible rings dwarf its moons in sheer scale. But all of their material, if compacted into a single body, would make a moon smaller than Enceladus, seen here next to the planet's banded globe.

Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across; the rings would make a moon roughly the size of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across, not pictured). Their thinness, just tens of meters (several feet) according to recent Cassini observations, is the key to their incredible scale.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 5 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 18, 2007, using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 49 degrees. Image scale is 201 kilometers (125 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Secretive Rings
October 26, 2007

Saturn's rings cut across their own shadows on the planet and hide a tiny secret.

Barely visible in the Encke Gap is the embedded moon Pan (26 kilometers, or 16 miles across). The Encke Gap is the thin, dark line near the rings' outer edge; Pan is a faint speck halfway between center and right.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 5 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 18, 2007, using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 20 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Swarm of Swirls
October 29, 2007

The restless winds on gas giant Saturn meet no resistance from any landmass. The boundaries between eastward- and westward-flowing jet streams create turbulent, eddy-filled regions that pump energy into the never-ending gales (see Powering Saturn's Jets).

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 18, 2007, using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 727 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 20 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Moon Harvest
October 30, 2007

Three of Saturn's brood hurtle around the vast icy disk of its rings.

Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) hangs at the top of this view, with its large crater Herschel in view; Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) lies outside the narrow F ring at right; and centered between the F and A rings at bottom is little Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across).

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 5 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 19, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 3.2 million kilometers (2 million miles) from Mimas, on which the image scale is 19 kilometers (12 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Cold Kingdom
November 1, 2007

Icy sentinels stand guard on Saturn's doorstep, defying the distant Sun.

Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is seen here at left, along with Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across), against the planet. At the distance of Saturn, the Sun's light is only about one-hundredth of its intensity at Earth, making this a dim and cold domain.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 5 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 20, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 3.3 million kilometers (2 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 52 degrees. Image scale is 193 kilometers (120 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

B Ring Terminus
November 2, 2007

The brilliant B ring ends abruptly at the Huygens Gap -- the broad, dark band devoid of ring material seen here near left. This gap marks the inner edge of the Cassini Division, within which the five dim bands at left reside.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 6 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 29, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (637,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 6 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Scratches on Dione
November 5, 2007

Bright, wispy fractures streak across Dione's trailing side. Following the Voyager flybys of the early 1980s, scientists considered the possibility that the streaks were bright material extruded by cryovolcanism. A quarter-century later, Cassini's close passes and sharp vision showed these features to be a system of braided canyons with bright walls.

North on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is up.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 30, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 45,000 kilometers (28,000 miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 36 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Darkside Beauty
November 6, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft spies the small moon Atlas, accompanied by bright clumps of material in the F ring, as it gazes down at the unilluminated side of the rings.

This view looks toward the rings from about 4 degrees above the ringplane. Atlas is a mere 32 kilometers (20 miles) across.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 1, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 532,000 kilometers (330,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 63 degrees at the center of this view. Image scale is about 30 kilometers (18 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Dark Belt of Tethys
November 7, 2007

Around the equator on its leading side, Tethys wears a band of slightly darker surface material. Cassini imaging scientists suspect that the darkened region may represent an area of less contaminated ice with differently sized grains than the material at higher latitudes on either side of the band.

Lit terrain seen here is on the Saturn-facing side of Tethys (1071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up. Part of the great canyon system Ithaca Chasma can be seen near the eastern limb in this frame-filling view.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 30, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 186,000 kilometers (116,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 62 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

No Postage Required
November 8, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft returns another dazzling postcard from its journey with this view of cloud-streaked Saturn and two of its moons.

Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) appears against the planet. Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is seen below the rings at left.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 6 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Image scale is 130 kilometers (81 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Ring Tableau
November 9, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft observes a gathering of three moons near the rings of Saturn.

Largest in the scene, Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) sits on the side of the rings nearer to Cassini. Oblong Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) lies on the distant side of the narrow F ring. Less obvious is tiny Daphnis (7 kilometers, or 4.3 miles across), which is made easier to spot by the waves it creates in the edges of the narrow Keeler Gap. Daphnis appears directly below the eastern limb of Mimas.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about a degree above the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 3, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Mimas. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Masked By Methane
November 12, 2007

Saturn's rings create a brilliant halo around the turbulent giant planet. Here, the Cassini spacecraft looks into Saturn's clouds using a spectral filter sensitive to absorption by methane. Light that reaches down to depths where methane is prevalent gets absorbed. Regions of the planet devoid of the clouds and hazes that can reflect this light back to the camera appear relatively dark. Thus, the bright areas in these images represent hazes and clouds high in the atmosphere.

Because the range of wavelengths for this filter is narrow, and because most of this light is absorbed by Saturn, the planet's disk is inherently faint and the exposures required are rather long. The rings do not strongly absorb at these wavelengths, and so they reflect more light and are overexposed compared to the atmosphere.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 6 degrees below the ringplane. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) is seen above the rings at right.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 890 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Image scale is 132 kilometers (82 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Filtering the Sun
November 14, 2007

Janus coasts past as the Cassini spacecraft takes in a view of the unilluminated side of the rings. Bright regions within the rings appear so because they allow scattered sunlight to filter through.

This view looks toward the rings from about 3 degrees above the ringplane. The dark, relatively dense B ring lies at center, flanked by the much brighter C and A rings. The thin line of the F ring encompasses the rest. Janus at bottom right is 181 kilometers (113 miles) across.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 1, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 581,000 kilometers (361,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 52 degrees at the center of this view. Image scale is 28 kilometers (17 miles) per pixel on Janus.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Facing Dione
November 15, 2007

Canyons slink southward on Dione, while bright-walled craters gleam in the sun. The Cassini spacecraft imaged this same region from a more southerly viewpoint during an approach earlier this year (see The Crater Gradient).

This view is centered on 9 degrees north latitude, 51 degrees west longitude. North on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is up.

The image was taken in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 30, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 197,000 kilometers (122,000 miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 25 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Circling Satellites
November 16, 2007

Saturn looks on as three moons round the rings.

From farthest to nearest the Cassini spacecraft: Tethys (1071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is seen above the rings. Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) lies immediately outside the edge of the narrow F ring. Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) floats beneath the rings' edge.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees above the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 6, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 141 kilometers (88 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Enceladus in Hiding
November 20, 2007

From a low angle above Saturn's rings, the Cassini spacecraft's view of an icy moon is partly obscured.

The view looks toward Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) across the unilluminated side of the rings from less than a degree above the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 26, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Enceladus. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Solar System in Miniature
November 21, 2007

Saturn's icy satellites wheel about the colorful giant planet, while the rings shine dimly in scattered sunlight. The Ringed Planet is, in many ways, a laboratory for investigating the history of our solar system and how planets form around other stars.

There are four moons visible in this view. Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across), largest in the scene, is on the far side of the ringplane. Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across), is the one on the near side of the rings, below Tethys. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across), is left of the rings¿ edge. Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) is a speck below the rings¿ edge, between Janus and Mimas. Mimas casts a shadow onto Saturn¿s bluish northern hemisphere.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees above the ringplane. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The view was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 30, 2007. The view was taken at a distance of approximately 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 153 kilometers (95 miles) per pixel on the planet.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Bright 'Dust'
November 22, 2007

The fine, dust-sized particles of ice in the F ring and Encke Gap ringlets appear relatively bright, with the rings positioned almost directly between the Cassini spacecraft and the Sun.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees above the ringplane. At bottom, the planet 's shadow casts the rings into darkness.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 24, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 298,000 kilometers (185,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 152 degrees. Image scale is 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Monitoring the Maelstrom
November 23, 2007

Clouds and vortices churn in this beautiful, close-up view of Saturn. This image is part of a series of important Cassini observations designed to provide information about winds and convection on Saturn.

The view is centered on a region 44 degrees north of Saturn 's equator.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 7, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Collapsed Rings
November 26, 2007

A lone moon coasts along in this view, which was taken from less than a degree below Saturn's sunlit ringplane. The rings are squashed into a narrow band from this viewing angle, foreshortening all of their radial features.

Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) travels from left to right here, led by its large crater Herschel.

The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 26, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.1 million kilometers (661,000 miles) from Mimas. Image scale is 6 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Saturnian Citizens
November 27, 2007

Cassini spies two icy denizens of the Saturn System as they hurtle past.

The view captures Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) at bottom, with Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) about 48,000 kilometers (30,000 miles) farther beyond.

This scene looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 3 degrees above the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 6, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.8 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Mimas. Image scale is approximately 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on both moons.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Toward Tethys
November 28, 2007
Tethys hangs before the Cassini spacecraft, its great crater Odysseus in view.

See The Great Basin for a close-up view of Odysseus.

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 25, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 798,000 kilometers (496,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 12 degrees. Image scale is 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Braided Channels
November 29, 2007

Seen here is the end result of the process that occurs every time the moon Prometheus closely approaches Saturn's F ring. The moon cuts a dark channel in the ring's inner edge that then shears out over successive orbits, giving the inner edge of the ring the grooved appearance seen here.

This process is described in detail, along with a movie of Prometheus creating one of the streamer/channel features, in Soft Collision.

The view is toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 3 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 25, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 624,000 kilometers (388,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 23 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Icy Traveller
November 30, 2007

Dione floats past, with Saturn's rings beyond.

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across). North is up. The darker terrain on the moon's trailing side is partly visible here, along with one of the bright linea -- the bright fractures that crisscross Dione's trailing side.

The view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from less than a degree below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 26, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 883,000 kilometers (549,000 miles) from Dione. Image scale is 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Planet in Repose
December 3, 2007

Shadow-draped Saturn rests on its side as two icy moons glide past.

Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) hangs against the planet's bright southern hemisphere. Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is a bright speck against the unlit side of the rings, near lower right.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees above the ringplane.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 31, 2007 using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of polarized infrared light centered at 752 and 705 nanometers.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 25 degrees. Image scale is 158 kilometers (98 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Ultraviolet Revelation
December 4, 2007

This low resolution view of Tethys provides scientists with useful information about the moon's surface properties, regardless of the image's small size.

The view, which was taken using an ultraviolet spectral filter, demonstrates that the eastern terrain seen here is less reflective than the west at the short wavelengths of light sampled here. This dramatic difference in brightness is not visible in images taken through other, longer wavelength filters from similar viewing geometries.

Scientists use images taken at various wavelengths, and at different viewing and lighting angles, to tease out details about the surfaces of Saturn's moons.

This view looks toward the trailing hemisphere on the Saturn-facing side of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up. Ithaca Chasma is seen here at left.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 26, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 338 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (972,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 16 degrees. Image scale is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Enceladus Afar
December 5, 2007

Enceladus is seen here, across the unilluminated side of Saturn's rings. A hint of the moon's active south polar region can be seen as a just slightly dark area at bottom.

This view was obtained from about 1 degree above the ringplane. Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across.

The image was taken in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 27, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Northern Storms
December 6, 2007

Giant vortices swirl in the dim northern latitudes of Saturn.

The high northern latitudes are slowly coming to light as Saturn heads into northern hemisphere spring.

The view is centered on a region 59 degrees north of Saturn's equator. North on Saturn is up and rotated 29 degrees to the right.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 31, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

True Colors
December 7, 2007

As seen from the side not illuminated by the Sun, Saturn's thinner rings are highlighted in shades of brown and gold, contrasting with the more neutral appearance of the icy moon Tethys. The A ring and Cassini Division are separated by the optically thick B ring, which does not permit sunlight to penetrate and appears as the broad, dark lane between them in this view.

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up and rotated 35 degrees to the right.

The view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 2 degrees above the ringplane.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The view was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 29, 2007, at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 21 degrees. Image scale is 12 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

B Ring Irregularities
December 10, 2007

The spoke-forming region in the outer part of Saturn's B ring is often seen to exhibit the irregular, patchy appearance around the ring that is visible in this Cassini view.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 5 degrees above the ringplane. The Cassini Division is visible at lower left.

The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 21, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 68 degrees. Image scale is about 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel in the radial, or outward from Saturn, direction.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Pummeled Hyperion
December 11, 2007

Saturn's irregularly shaped moon Hyperion is completely covered with large pits from which much of its material has been blasted by impacts, never to return. The moon's surface gravity is so low that crater-ejected material often escapes Hyperion entirely.

Hyperion is 280 kilometers (174 miles) across on average.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 21, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 151,000 kilometers (94,000 miles) from Hyperion and at a Sun-Hyperion-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111 degrees. Image scale is 906 meters (0.6 mile) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Off Saturn's Shoulder
December 12, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft spies Enceladus and Epimetheus near the limb of Saturn.

Geologically active Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across; smaller, more irregularly shaped Epimetheus is 116 kilometers (72 miles) across.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from less than a degree above the ringplane.

The image was taken in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 27, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.4 million kilometers (857,000 miles) from Enceladus. Epimetheus is 91,000 kilometers (57,000 miles) farther away from Cassini here. Image scale is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel on both moons.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Shadow Spot
December 13, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft gazes into the blustery, ever changing atmosphere of Saturn as the tiny shadow of Epimetheus drifts across the cloud tops.

The view looks toward a region in Saturn's atmosphere 24 degrees north of the planet's equator. Epimetheus is 116 kilometers (72 miles) across and orbits about 151,400 kilometers (94,100 miles) from the planet.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 7, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Sliding Shadows
December 14, 2007

Dark ring shadows adorn the northern hemisphere of Saturn. The shadows have loosened their grip on the north compared to when Cassini arrived in 2004 (see Saturn's Blue Cranium), and presently continue to slide farther south.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 5 degrees above the ringplane. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The view was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 22, 2007, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (839,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 77 kilometers (48 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Rhea Detached
December 17, 2007

Rhea is frozen in this Cassini portrait, captured just before it glided in front of Saturn's northern hemisphere. The wispy streaks on Rhea's trailing side are partly visible in the west.

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). North is up.

The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 9, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.8 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 33 degrees. Image scale is 17 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Key Players
December 18, 2007

Saturn and Dione regard Enceladus -- the object their gravitational tug-of-war. Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is seen next to Saturn here. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) appears at left.

The interplay of gravitational forces on Enceladus from both Saturn and Dione might provide a key source of energy for the geological activity in the small moon's south polar region. What powers the activity on Enceladus is an ongoing subject of interest to Cassini scientists.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 3 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 8, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 727 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 169 kilometers (105 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Cloud Detail
December 19, 2007

A transitional region in Saturn's atmosphere features long, linear cloud shapes, flanked to the north and south by more turbulent swirls. At top center in this view swirls a dark vortex ringed by bright clouds.

The view is centered on a region 44 degrees north of the Saturnian equator. North is up.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 8, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 17 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Mimas Emerges
December 20, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft watches a thin, bright sliver emerge from the hazy limb of Saturn. In one minute, the sliver ballooned into the full disk of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across), which coasted silently into the black sky.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from less than a degree above the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 26, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (900,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is about 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Obscure Moon
December 21, 2007

Just before Rhea slipped behind Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft captured the moon in its disappearing act.

Along with the partly obscured Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) are Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across), at right, and Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across), left of Tethys.

At the wavelength in which this image was taken, absorption of sunlight by methane gas in Saturn's atmosphere is strong, causing the planet to appear darker than at other wavelengths.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 4 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 9, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 890 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.8 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 44 degrees. Image scale is 162 kilometers (101 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Moon Patrol
December 24, 2007

This colorful view, taken from edge-on with the ringplane, contains four of Saturn's attendant moons. Tethys (1,071 kilometers, 665 miles across) is seen against the black sky to the left of the gas giant's limb. Brilliant Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across) sits against the planet near right. Irregular Hyperion (280 kilometers, 174 miles across) is at the bottom of the image, near left. Much smaller Epimetheus (116 kilometers, 72 miles across) is a speck below the rings directly between Tethys and Enceladus. Epimetheus casts an equally tiny shadow onto the blue northern hemisphere, just above the thin shadow of the F ring.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 24, 2007 at a distance of approximately 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 116 kilometers (72 miles) per pixel on Saturn.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

The Painted Globe
December 24, 2007

Saturn in the Cassini era has proved to be an unexpectedly colorful place, compared to the browns and golds imaged by the two Voyager spacecraft.

Saturn is headed toward equinox in 2009, followed by springtime in the northern hemisphere. Having a spacecraft in orbit while such changes occur will be of great benefit in scientists' quest to understand the atmospheres of the giant planets.

The planet's oblate, or squashed, shape is clearly visible in this view. The low-density planet rotates so fast (in about 10.5 hours) that it flattens out slightly around its middle. The bluish tint of the northern latitudes is presumed to be a seasonal effect, and will likely disappear entirely as the north receives increasingly greater amounts of sunlight.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 29, 2007 at a distance of approximately 3.1 million kilometers (2 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 184 kilometers (115 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Rhea's Pitted Profile
December 24, 2007

The low illumination angle near the terminator makes visible the steep topography of craters on Rhea's battered surface.

This view is centered on 10 degrees north latitude, 128 degrees west longitude. North on Rhea (1,528 kilometers, 949 miles across) is up.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 16, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 313,000 kilometers (195,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 128 degrees. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Dual Core
December 25, 2007

A section of Saturn's perturbed F ring displays kinks in its bright, double-stranded core. At left, edge waves in the Encke Gap, caused by the presence of Pan, can be seen, along with two faint ringlets.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 4 degrees above the ringplane. The rings disappear into the planet's shadow at the top of the scene.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 14, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 55 degrees. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Dione's Fractured Face
December 26, 2007

The Cassini spacecraft catches a glimpse of the bright fractures that adorn the trailing side of icy Dione.

North on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is up.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 18, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (623,000 miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 45 degrees. Image scale is 6 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Alone With the Giant
December 27, 2007

A small moon travels its circuit just outside the main rings of Saturn. Epimetheus (116 kilometers, 72 miles across) is absolutely dwarfed by the giant planet.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 5 degrees above the ringplane. The night side of the planet's southern hemisphere is illuminated by ringshine -- sunlight reflected off the rings .The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 14, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 102 kilometers (63 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Sculpting the F Ring
December 28, 2007

Prometheus is caught here, in the act of pulling a new streamer out of the F ring's inner edge. Trailing behind (above the moon in the image) are previous dark gores that Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) has created.

See Soft Collision for a thorough description of how the moon creates these features.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 5 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 14, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Prometheus and at a Sun-Prometheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

Saturn's Outer C Ring
January 1, 2008

This view takes in the outer third of Saturn's C ring -- from the Maxwell Gap, at center left, to the C-ring edge at lower right.

For reference, see the labeled mosaic of the rings presented in Expanse of Ice.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 4 degrees below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 17, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 465,000 kilometers (289,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale at the center of this view is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel in the radial, or outward from Saturn, direction and 42 kilometers per pixel in the longitudinal, or around Saturn, direction.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit _http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at _http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Source: NASA/JPL - Cassini

A Wisp of Smoke
January 2, 2008

The Cassini spacecraft peers through the fine, smoke-sized ice particles of Saturn's F ring toward the cratered face of Mimas. The F ring's core, which contains significantly larger particles, is dense enough to completely block the light from Mimas.
The view looks toward the trailing hemisphere on the Saturn-facing side of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across), and toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 2 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 18, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 772,000 kilometers (480,000 miles) from Mimas. Image scale is 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel on the moon
.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet