Cassini at Saturn

Cassini-Hugyens MissionImage Gallery


The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida on October 15, 1997.


Primary MissionFour-year tour to study Saturn, its rings, moons and magnetosphere

LaunchedOctober 15, 1997 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Arrival at SaturnJune 30, 2004

Distance Traveled2.2 billion miles (3.5 billion km)

Huygens probe Titan descentJanuary 14, 2005


Montage of images of the Saturnian System prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980.


The different seasons of Saturn imaged by Hubble Space Telescope.


Group of four storms taken May 5, 2004, at a distance of 29.5 million kilometers (18.3 million miles) from Saturn.


Image taken on May 7, 2004 from a distance of 28.2 million kilometers (17.6 million miles) from Saturn.


Saturn's moon Prometheus is seen orbiting inside the planet's F-ring.

Near the center, separating the A and B rings is the famous Cassini division.

Image taken May 10, 2004, at a distance of 27 million kilometers (16.8 million miles) from Saturn.


Dramatic details in the swirling, turbulent bands of clouds in Saturn's atmosphere. Particularly noteworthy is the disturbed equatorial region.

Image taken on May 10, 2004, at a distance of 27.2 million kilometers (16.9 million miles) from Saturn.


Saturn's rings cast thread-like shadows on the planet's northern hemisphere.

Image taken on May 10, 2004, at a distance of 27.2 million kilometers (16.9 million miles) from Saturn.


Moons visible in the image are:

Mimas, above the rings at left

Epimetheus, just above the A ring

Enceladus, near upper right.


Saturn’s rings show some of their intricate structure. Although they appear to be solid structures, the rings are composed of billions of individual particles, each one orbiting the planet on its own path.

Image taken on May 11, 2004, from a distance of 26.3 million kilometers (16.4 million miles).


Cloud bands and wavy structures in Saturn's southern hemisphere as seen in the ultraviolet. The gaseous part of the atmosphere is bright and high clouds and aerosols tend to be dark.

Image taken May 15, 2004, from a distance of 24.7 million kilometers (15.4 million miles).


Cloud Swirls in Infrared

A turbulent swirl in the high clouds of Saturn’s atmosphere. The disturbance occurs in the southern edge of the equatorial band.

Image taken on May 21, 2004, from a distance of 22 million kilometers (13.7 million miles).


Hazes in the skies over Titan. Here the northern hemisphere is notably brighter than the southern hemisphere. This trait was also noticed in images returned by the Voyager spacecraft 23 years ago.

Image taken May 22, 2004, from a distance of 21.7 million kilometers (13.5 million miles).


Saturn's 1,436 kilometer (892 mile)-wide moon Iapetus.

Image taken on May 23, 2004, from a distance of 20.2 million kilometers (12.5 million miles) from Iapetus.


Phoebe has revealed itself to be a rugged, heavily cratered body.

Images taken from distances ranging from 143,068 kilometers (88,918 miles) to 77,441 kilometers (48, 130 miles). Cassini's closest approach to Phoebe was approximately 2,068 kilometers (1,285 miles).


Phoebe shows evidence that it may be an ice-rich body coated with a thin layer of dark material. Small bright craters are probably fairly young features.

This image is a mosaic of two images taken on June 11, 2004, from a distance of approximately 32,500 kilometers (20,200 miles).


The sharply-defined crater, at center, exhibits layers of bright and dark material. This might occur when ejecta thrown out from the crater buries the pre-existing surface that was covered by a relatively thin, dark deposit over an icy mantle.

Image taken June, 11 2004, from a distance of 13,377 kilometers (8,314 miles).


Phoebe's pitted surface taken very near closest approach shows a 13-kilometer (8-mile) diameter crater with a debris-covered floor. Part of another crater of similar size is visible at left, as is part of a larger crater at top and many scattered smaller craters.


Digitally rendered shape model of Phoebe constructed using Cassini imaging data obtained before and after the spacecraft's close flyby of the Saturnian moon on June 11, 2004.


A detailed image of smog-enshrouded Titan. North is up and rotated 25 degrees to the left. The yellow curve marks the position of the boundary between day and night on Titan.

Image taken June 14, 2004, at a distance of 10.4 million kilometers (6.5 million miles) from Titan.


Cassini image of Saturn taken June 21, 2004, from 15.7 million kilometers (9.8 million miles).


The X indicates the point where Cassini will pierce the ring plane on June 30, 2004, going from south to north of the ring plane, 33 minutes before the main engine fires to begin orbital insertion.

The x point is between the narrow F-ring on the left and the tenuous G-ring, too faint to be seen in this exposure.


Cassini Orbit Insertion Geometry


After becoming the first spacecraft to enter Saturn's orbit, Cassini sent back this image of a portion of the planet's rings. It was taken by the spacecraft's narrow angle camera and shows the dark, or unlit, side of the rings.


A portion of the planet's rings showing the sunlit side of the rings.


Artist's concept of the Cassini-Huygens orbiter shows the Huygens probe separating to enter Titan's atmosphere.

After separation, the probe drifts for about three weeks until reaching its destination, Titan.


Artist's impression of Huygens probe on Titan.


The Cassini spacecraft will send back to Earth more than 300,000 color images of Saturn, its rings, Titan, and Saturn's other moons.

Some 1,100 images of Titan will be taken by the Huygens probe during its swirling descent to Titan.

Cassini at Saturn

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