Saturn's Atmosphere and Rings

Stunning images capturing Saturn's rings and atmosphere, showcasing various moons and weather patterns.

Saturn's Rings and Shadows

The Storm Continues

Spotlight on Mimas

This moody portrait of Saturn captures a razor-thin ringplane bisecting the clouds of the bright equatorial region. The rings cast dark, shadowy bands onto the planet's northern latitudes. At left, Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is a tiny sunlit orb against the planet's dark side. The image was taken in polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 7, 2005 at a distance of approximately 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 96 degrees. Image scale is 179 kilometers (111 miles) per pixel. http //photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA07673

Saturn's surface is painted with swirls and shadows. Each swirl here is a weather system, reminding us of how dynamic Saturn's atmosphere is. This image is from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Outsider Moon

Looking up toward Saturn's southern hemisphere, NASA's Cassini spacecraft pictures a pair of the planet's moons orbiting in the distance. Tethys and Rhea orbit in the plane of the planet's rings, but appear to be below the planet in this view.

Saturn's F ring often appears to do things other rings don't. In this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, a strand of ring appears to separate from the core of the ring as if pulled apart by mysterious forces.

The rings of Saturn glow softly as sunlight from below wends its way through. Some of the Sun's light bounces off the rings' opposite side

Saturn's Rings and Shadows

Like Spokes of Old

The shadow of the moon Tethys cuts across the C ring in this image taken as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox.

Saturn's rings appear to form a majestic arc over the planet in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Like a shepherd guarding his sheep, Prometheus keeps a lonely watch over the F ring in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Atlas joins other moons casting shadows on Saturn's rings as the planet approaches its August 2009 equinox.

Moon under Saturn

Saturn's D ring is easy to overlook since it's trapped between the brighter C ring and the planet itself. In this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, all that can be seen of the D ring is the faint and narrow arc as it stretches from top right of the ima

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, looks small here, pictured to the right of the gas giant as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Held in gravity's embrace, Saturn's darkened, icy rings encircle the clouded gas giant

Gazing Down

Saturn's moon Dione coasts along in its orbit appearing in front of its parent planet in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The wispy terrain on the trailing hemisphere of Dione can be seen on the left of the moon here.

Atmospheric Detail and Enceladus

Scanning the Rings

Scarred Janus

These two images illustrate just how far Cassini traveled to get to Saturn. On the left is one of the earliest images Cassini took of the ringed planet, captured during the long voyage from the inner solar system. On the right is one of Cassini's final images of Saturn, showing the site where the spacecraft would enter the atmosphere on the following day. In the left image, taken in 2001, about six months after the spacecraft passed Jupiter for a gravity assist flyby, the best view of Saturn using the spacecraft's high-resolution (narrow-angle) camera was on the order of what could be seen using the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. At the end of the mission (at right), from close to Saturn, even the lower resolution (wide-angle) camera could capture just a tiny part of the planet. The left image looks toward Saturn from 20 degrees below the ring plane and was taken on July 13, 2001 in wavelengths of infrared light centered at 727 nanometers using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-ang

Ring-Moon Connections

A pair of Saturn's moons accompany the planet and its rings. Dione is in top left and Tethys is below. Cassini.

Prometheus draws material from the F ring along an invisible thread of gravity. Near lower left is an identical feature the moon created on a previous pass near the ring

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this image of Saturn as it views the planet and its expansive rings from all sorts of angles. Here, a half-lit Saturn sits askew as tiny Dione looks on from lower left.

String of Moons

Orbiting near the plane of Saturn's rings, NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks across the span of the rings to spy the small moon Epimetheus. The brightest spoke is visible on the left of the image.

Orbiting in the Encke Gap of Saturn's A ring, the moon Pan casts a shadow on the ring in this image taken about six months after the planet's August 2009 equinox by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

It's Full of Moons!

Discovery of the Wavemaker (animation)

The Cassini spacecraft shows a section of Saturn and its rings which includes a special treat made possible as the planet approaches its August 2009 equinox: the shadow of a moon cast on the rings.

Stunning views like this image of Saturn's night side are only possible thanks to our robotic emissaries like Cassini. Until future missions are sent to Saturn, Cassini's image-rich legacy must suffice. Because Earth is closer to the Sun than Saturn, observers on Earth only see Saturn's day side. With spacecraft, we can capture views (and data) that are simply not possible from Earth, even with the largest telescopes. This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 7 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft on June 7, 2017. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 751,000 miles (1.21 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 45 miles (72 kilometers) per pixel. The Cassini spacecraft ended its mission on Sept. 15, 2017.

Huge clouds swirl through the southern latitudes of Saturn where the rings cast dramatic shadows. This view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.

Secretive Rings

Splendid Striations

The shepherding moon Pandora, near the bottom of the image, casts a shadow on Saturn's thin F ring as the planet nears its August 2009 equinox.

Pan prepares to be engulfed by the darkness of Saturn's shadow, visible here as it stretches across the rings

Long, thin streamers of cloud arc gracefully across this view of Saturn's southerly latitudes

Saturn's moon Prometheus casts a long shadow across the A ring in the middle-right side of this image taken shortly before the planet's August 2009 equinox by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Delicate shadows are cast outward from Saturn's thin F ring in the lower left of this image taken as the planet approached its August 2009 equinox. The moon Atlas (30 kilometers, or 19 miles across) is seen just above the center of the image.

Misleading Perspective

Enceladus' famous south polar water jets can be seen just above the moon's dark, southern limb in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

A pair of Saturn's small satellites, Janus and Pandora, accompany the planet's rings in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft presenting the view in dramatic diagonal fashion.

Streaks of cloud are overlain with graceful ring shadows in this view of Saturn's northern latitudes

Big Boulder

NASA's Cassini spacecraft watches Pandora, one of the F ring's two shepherding moons, orbiting beyond the thin ring; the small moon can be seen on the left of this image.

Bound to Saturn

South Pole in Ultraviolet

Pan's Corridor

NASA's Cassini spacecraft views Saturn with a selection of its moons in varying sizes. Also seen here are Titan (center), Enceladus (far right), Pandora, barely detectable as a speck on the far left, has been brightened by a factor of two.

The oblong form of Prometheus glides by, trailing behind it wiggles in Saturn's ribbon-like F ring

The F ring's shepherds, Prometheus and Pandora, join Epimetheus in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of three of Saturn's moons and the rings.

This monochrome view is the last image taken by the imaging cameras on NASA's Cassini spacecraft. It looks toward the planet's night side, lit by reflected light from the rings, and shows the location at which the spacecraft would enter the planet's atmosphere hours later. A natural color view, created using images taken with red, green and blue spectral filters, is also provided (Figure 1). The imaging cameras obtained this view at approximately the same time that Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer made its own observations of the impact area in the thermal infrared. This location -- the site of Cassini's atmospheric entry -- was at this time on the night side of the planet, but would rotate into daylight by the time Cassini made its final dive into Saturn's upper atmosphere, ending its remarkable 13-year exploration of Saturn. The view was acquired on Sept. 14, 2017 at 19 59 UTC (spacecraft event time). The view was taken in visible light using the Cassini spacecraft

This view, seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn's daylit side, which no Earth-based telescope could capture. A spacecraft in orbit, like Cassini, can capture stunning scenes that would be impossible from our home planet.

The tilted crescent of Saturn displays lacy cloud bands here along with a bright equatorial region and threadlike ring shadows on the northern hemisphere

Saturn's Summer Tilt

Saturn's Smile

The projection of Saturn's shadow on the rings grows shorter as Saturn's season advances toward northern summer, thanks to the planet's permanent tilt as it orbits the sun, as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

A gaggle of moons parade around Saturn's rings in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft in which the large moon Rhea passes in front of the small moon Janus. Go to the Photojournal to view the animation.

From the Dark Side

Iceball Among Snowballs

Resembling a thin ribbon wrapped around the crescent of the planet, Saturn's rings are seen edge-on by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Three of the small worlds that hug the outer edges of Saturn's immense ring system are captured in this Cassini spacecraft portrait

B Ring Irregularities

Points of Interest

Just as Saturn's famous hexagonal shaped jet stream encircles the planet's north pole, the rings encircle the planet, as seen from NASA's Cassini spacecraft's position high above.

Star Companions

The water-world Enceladus appears here to sit atop Saturn's rings like a drop of dew upon a leaf in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Rings Occulting Titan

The F ring dissolves into a fuzzy stream of particles -- rather different from its usual appearance of a narrow, bright core flanked by dimmer ringlets. Also notable here is the bright clump of material that flanks the ring's core

Storms and cloud bands emerge from beneath Saturn's obscuring hazes in this infrared view

Saturn's Confidants

Ring Tableau

Groovy Rings and Moons

Dione's Companion

Saturn's odd but ever-intriguing F ring displays multiple lanes and several bright clumps. The Keeler and Encke gaps are visible in the outer A ring, at right

Dione and Enceladus

Titan, Enceladus, and the Rings of Saturn

This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reminds us of how different Mimas and Pandora are when they appear together; although both are moons of Saturn, Pandora's small size means that it lacks sufficient gravity to pull itself into a round shape.

The brightly reflective moon Enceladus appears before Saturn's rings while the larger moon Titan looms in the distance. Jets of water ice and vapor emanating from the south pole of Enceladus (hinting at subsurface sea rich in organics).

An enhanced close-up view shows at least two distinct jets spraying a mist of fine particles from the south polar region of Enceladus. This image shows the night side of Saturn and the active moon against dark sky

Moonwatching

Brotherly Moons

This image of Saturn's northern hemisphere was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Sept. 13, 2017. It is among the last images Cassini sent back to Earth. The view was taken in visible red light using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of 684,000 miles (1.1 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 40 miles (64 kilometers).

The moons Mimas and Janus seem insignificant in front of the immensity of Saturn in this NASA Cassini spacecraft image. Mimas is visible above the rings near the center; Janus is barely detectable as a tiny speck of light below the rings on the left.

The Cassini spacecraft examines Saturn and the planet's northern hemisphere, which was ravaged by a huge storm for much of 2011.

An illusion of perspective, Saturn's moon Tethys seems to hang above the planet's north pole in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Dione appears cut in two by Saturn's razor-thin rings, seen nearly edge-on in a view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft watches Saturn's small moon Epimetheus orbiting beyond the planet's rings. Epimetheus orbits beyond the thin F ring near the bottom center of this view.

Nature is an artist, and this time she seems to have let her paints swirl together a bit. What the viewer might perceive to be Saturn's surface captured by NASA's Cassini orbiter is really just the tops of its uppermost cloud layers.

In this magnificent view, delicate haze layers high in the atmosphere encircle the oblate figure of Saturn. A special combination of spectral filters used for this image makes the high haze become visible

With no solid land to obstruct their progress, dark vortices often roll through Saturn's atmosphere for months or years, before merging with other vortices

NASA's Cassini spacecraft looks past Saturn's rings and small moon Janus to spy the planet's second largest moon, Rhea where lit terrain is seen.

Tight Spiral

The Cassini spacecraft peers through the gossamer strands of Saturn's innermost rings, whose own shadows adorn the planet beyond

Wavemaker Moon

This Cassini spacecraft view of Pan in the Encke gap shows hints of detail on the moon's dark side, which is lit by saturnshine -- sunlight reflected off Saturn.

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