planetarywanderer:

littlelimpstiff14u2:

These are the Most Incredible Photos Shot by NASA’s Cassini Probe

The Cassini space probe has captured its fair share of eye-popping photos since launching in 1997 and arriving in Saturn’s orbit in 2004.
Here’s a collection of some of Cassini’s most remarkable photographs. You can find a massive collection of Cassini’s photos in the mission gallery on NASA’s website.

1. Saturn’s gradation and rings. 2.Saturn casting a shadow on its rings. 3. Three of Saturn’s moons (Titan, Mimas, and Rhea) captured in a single photo. 4.A storm on the north pole of Saturn. 5. Four moons huddling around Saturn’s rings. 6. Saturn’s moon Rhea hovering in front of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. 7. Saturn, its rings, and its moon Dione. 8. Saturn casting its shadow on its rings. 9. A massive storm stretching across the surface of the planet. 10. Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus.

The Cassini camera team keeps an eye out for images that will be gorgeous in addition to scientifically valuable during planning.  

I used to work on the Cassini science planning team, mostly planning flybys of Enceladus; this weekend’s final Enceladus flyby feels very bittersweet to me.

schneckenhaus:

Colors of Saturn by Lights In The Dark on Flickr.

humanoidhistory:

The planet Saturn in natural color as human eyes would see it, mosaic made from 36 images obtained by the Cassini space probe on October 10, 2013.

(NASA/Smithsonian Air & Space Museum)