Ten Best Pictures From NASA's Cassini Probe—Saturn, More

Jupiter Flyby

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

Jupiter's volcanic moon Io spins against the backdrop of its parent planet in 2001. Cassini snapped the image as the craft swung past the gas giant en route to the Saturnian system.

While Io may appear to be floating close to Jupiter, the moon is about 220,000 miles (350,000 kilometers) away—about as far as Earth is from our moon. (See "Deep Magma Ocean Fuels Hundreds of Volcanoes on Jupiter Moon.")

Published October 24, 2012

Ringed Mystery

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

Saturn's concentric rings—and the gaps in those rings—stand out in unprecedented detail in this 2008 natural-color picture taken by Cassini.

Discoveries of higher concentrations of ice in the outer rings are offering more clues to their origin and evolution. (Related: "Saturn's Rings Made by Giant 'Lost' Moon, Study Hints.")

Published October 24, 2012

Spongy Moon

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

From less than 39,000 miles (63,000 kilometers) away, Cassini snapped the first ever picture of Saturn's highly pitted moon Hyperion (pictured) in 2005.

Hyperion, with its porous appearance, is 1 of 34 known Saturn moons—only 18 of which had been spotted before Cassini arrived on the scene. (Related pictures: "New Views of Saturn's 'Sponge' Moon Hyperion [2011].")

Published October 24, 2012

Skinny Shadow

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

Saturn's rings cast a razor-thin shadow on the planet in a 2009 Cassini picture.

Despite being 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) from Saturn at the time, Cassini's cameras revealed never before seen structural details in the planet's gossamer rings, which are made up of billions of particles ranging in size from dust grains to house-size ice boulders.

(Related: "Saturn's 'Walnut' Moon Mystery Cracked?")

Published October 24, 2012

Storm Brewing

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

A large storm (top right) roils in Saturn's upper atmosphere in a 2011 infrared composite image.

Cassini's long-term orbit of the ringed giant has offered insight into short-term weather patterns and previously unseen disturbances, including the giant storm, said Carolyn Porco, Cassini's imaging team leader, who is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

"In this case, we were present to record the state of the planet before, during, and after the rare, once-every-30-years eruption of a colossal and long-lived atmospheric storm—a circumstance guaranteed to yield unprecedented insights into the detailed workings of planetary atmospheres,"  added Porco, who processes nearly all the orbiter's images, mosaics, and movies.

(Related: "Giant Saturn Storm Revealed; Wider Than Earth.")

Published October 24, 2012

In Living Color

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

While cruising by Saturn in February 2007, Cassini captured a series of haze-penetrating infrared images, which were combined to create this false-color mosaic.

Various colors reflect the differing light levels around the planet, with blue indicating the brightest areas and reds the dimmest. (See more Saturn pictures.)

Published October 24, 2012

Just Hanging Out

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

Saturn's heavily cratered moon Mimas seems to hover over its home planet in a 2007 Cassini image.

Just visible on the right side of the moon is the 88-mile-long (140-kilometer-long) Herschel crater, the result of an ancient impact that nearly pulverized the satellite. (See a closeup of the Herschel crater.)

Published October 24, 2012

Twin Titans

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

Smoggy, golden Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is set against the backdrop of the giant planet in May 2012.

In December 2004, just five months after arriving at the Saturnian system, Cassini jettisoned the Huygens probe, which arrived at Titan 22 days later. After orbiting the moon, Huygens landed in January 2005, sending scientists the most detailed images yet of Titan's surface.

"While this gorgeous image was being processed, I noticed that the colors in the Saturn atmosphere were noticeably changed from those seen upon our arrival in 2004," Porco said. "A decade's worth of monitoring Saturn can do that: reveal to us eager onlookers the subtle changes brought about by the gradual advance of the seasons.

"Our exploration of Titan ... has been like a Jules Verne adventure come true," she added. (See "Launch Boat to Saturn Moon, Scientists Propose.")

Published October 24, 2012

Tiger Stripes on the Moon

Image courtesy SSI/NASA

"Tiger stripes" on Saturn's moon Enceladus (pictured) are seen in an enhanced-color mosaic created with Cassini images taken in 2005.

The bluish, grooved terrain appears to represent warmer regions filled with jets of ice. The jets suggest Enceladus has an under-ice sea of organic, salty water, which may make the moon a promising target for the search for life as we know it.

"Of all the remarkable discoveries we have made at Saturn over the last eight years, none has been more profound ... than the discovery of this Yellowstone of the solar system," Porco said.

"As planetary explorers, we could not have asked for more."

Published October 24, 2012

More Pictures: Saturn Moon Coated in Fresh Powder

Image courtesy Paul Schenk, LPI

Published October 24, 2012