Saturn's Rings and Moons

Stunning views of Saturn's rings and its moons, highlighting interactions between celestial bodies in a dark cosmic environment.

Saturn's A Ring and Moon Atlas

Both luminous and translucent, the C ring sweeps out of the darkness of Saturn's shadow and obscures the planet at lower left. The ring is characterized by broad, isolated bright areas, or plateaus, surrounded by fainter material

Saturn's A Ring and Moon Atlas

Three Meddlesome Moons

This image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows Epimetheus, which orbits Saturn well outside of the F ring's orbit.

The Cassini spacecraft looks toward the unilluminated side of Saturn's rings to spy on the moon Pan as it cruises through the Encke Gap

Vortex Variety

The In-Between Moons

Two tiny moons of Saturn, almost lost amid the planet's enormous rings, are seen orbiting in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Pan, lower-right, is in the process of overtaking the slower Atlas, visible at upper-left.

Bright Dust

Light from a Flickering Star

A new day dawns on Saturn as the part of the planet is seen emerging once more into the Sun's light by NASA's Cassini orbiter. With an estimated rotation period of 10 hours and 40 minutes, Saturn's days and nights are much shorter than those on Earth.

The Cassini spacecraft captures a spectacular view of Saturn's banded southern hemisphere and dark central polar storm, while its dazzling rings lie far beyond the horizon

Rings At Opposition

NASA's Cassini spacecraft watches as clouds swirl through Saturn's equatorial latitudes.

Saturn's rings appear as only a thin line seen edge-on in the middle of this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, but the rings cast broad shadows on the southern hemisphere of the planet in the lower left of the image.

Making Waves

Pandora Occults the F Ring

The ring-region Saturnian moons Prometheus and Pan are both caught 'herding' their respective rings in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Prometheus Lurking in the Rings

Bright spokes and the shadow of a moon grace Saturn's B ring in this NASA Cassini spacecraft image. Spokes are radial markings scientists continue to study, and they can be seen here stretching from the far left to upper right of the image.

Although only a sliver of Saturn's sunlit face is visible in this view, the mighty gas giant planet still dominates the view captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Disturbing Moons

One View, Multiple Worlds

Facing Janus

Depth of Field

This image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows befitting moons named for brothers, Prometheus and Epimetheus. Both are small, icy moons that orbit near the main rings of Saturn.

Saturn's moon Enceladus brightly reflects sunlight before a backdrop of the planet's rings and the rings' shadows cast onto the planet. NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this snapshot during its flyby of the moon on Nov. 30, 2010.

Tiny Daphnis appears as a bright dot in the Keeler Gap next to shadows cast by the moon and the edge waves it has created in the A ring in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft before Saturn's August 2009 equinox.

Scrambled Edge

Atmosphere and Enceladus

Saturn's B ring is spread out in all its glory in this image from NASA'S Cassini spacecraft. Scientists are trying to better understand the origin and nature of the various structures seen in the B ring.

The Cassini spacecraft looks toward the unilluminated side of Saturn's rings to spy on the moon Pan as it cruises through the Encke Gap.This view looks toward the rings from about 13 degrees above the ringplane. At the top of the image

It's difficult to get a sense of scale when viewing Saturn's rings, but the Cassini Division (seen here between the bright B ring and dimmer A ring) is almost as wide as the planet Mercury as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Far from Titan

This image of Saturn's rings illustrates how textures in the rings can differ, even in close proximity. The image was taken at a distance of approximately 70,000 miles (113,000 kilometers) from the rings and at a phase angle of 52 degrees. Image scale is 2,300 feet (690 meters) per pixel.

Saturn's Icy Realm

Sweeping Ring View

The Cassini spacecraft delivers this stunning vista showing small, battered Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the scene

Shaping the Drapes

Saturn's tiny moon Atlas, just to the left of the center of the image, appears almost indistinguishable from the background stars seen in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Saturn's Derby

Splendid Saturn

What's that bright point of light in the outer A ring It's a star, bright enough to be visible through the ring as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Planet in Repose

Night Side Ringplane

The Cassini spacecraft spies multiple spokes in Saturn's outer B ring. The precise origin and evolution of these transient features continue to provide ring scientists with intriguing puzzles to solve

Enceladus and the Rings of Saturn

NASA's Cassini orbiter shows Saturn is circled by its rings (nearly edge-on in this image), as well as by the moons Tethys (the large bright body near the lower right corner) and Mimas (seen as a slight crescent against Saturn's disk above the rings).

$Dione's beautiful wispy terrain is brightly lit alongside Saturn's elegant rings in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The 'wisps' are relatively young fractures on the trailing hemisphere of Dione's icy surface.$

Lit by reflected light from Saturn, Enceladus appears to hover above the gleaming rings, its well-defined ice particle jets spraying a continuous hail of tiny ice grains

Although it appears empty from a distance, the Encke gap in Saturn's A ring has three ringlets threaded through it, two of which are visible here from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The Cassini spacecraft looks toward daybreak on Saturn through the delicate strands of the C ring. Some structure and contrast is visible in the clouds far below

The Cassini spacecraft takes an angled view toward Saturn, showing the southern reaches of the planet with the rings on a dramatic diagonal. The moon Enceladus appears as a small, bright speck in the lower left of the image.

Saturn's rings occupy the foreground of this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The small moon Janus appears to hover above, while the far larger moon Rhea is partially obscured by the rings.

The tiny moon Pandora appears beyond the bright disk of Saturn's rings in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Pandora orbits outside the F ring and, in this image, is farther from Cassini than the rings are.

As Cassini watches the rings pass in front of the bright red giant star Aldebaran, the star's light fluctuates, providing information about the concentrations of ring particles within the various radial features in the rings

Tethys Aloft

Six of Saturn's moons orbiting within and beyond the planet's rings are collected in this Cassini spacecraft image; they include Enceladus, Epimetheus, Atlas, Daphnis, Pan, and Janus.

The small, dark form of Janus cruises along in front of bright Saturn. The edge-on rings cast dramatic shadows onto the northern hemisphere

Icy Interloper

This view of high southern latitudes on Saturn shows very linear clouds at top, usually indicative of stable prevailing winds, and two turbulent, swirling features farther south

The shadow of the moon Enceladus darkens a small portion of the swirling clouds on Saturn in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Enceladus itself is not visible in this view.

Above and Below

Stunning Edge-On View of Saturn From Cassini

Saturn's Outer C Ring

Hiding within the Encke gap is the small moon Pan, partly in shadow and party cut off by the outer A ring in this view. Similar to Atlas, Pan appears to have a slight ridge around its middle; and like Atlas, Pan's orbit also coincides with a faint ringlet

What appears as a pair of bright dashes at the center of this image is one of the features rings scientists have dubbed 'propellers.' This image of Bleriot is from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The dark side of the ringplane glows with scattered light, including the luminous F ring, which shines like a rope of brilliant neon. Below, Dione presents an exquisitely thin crescent

Vertical structures in the variable outer edge of Saturn's B ring cast shadows in these two images captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shortly after the planet's August 2009 northern vernal equinox.

Saturn from Below

Moons that Share

Wide View of Saturn's F Ring

The small moon Janus is almost hidden between the planet's rings and the larger moon Rhea in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The northern part of Janus can be seen peeking above the rings.

Gaps in the Darkness

Saturn's small moons Atlas, Prometheus, and Epimetheus keep each other company in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft of the planet's night side. It seems fitting that they should do so since in Greek mythology, their namesakes were brothers.

This image shows a pair of moons, Pandora and Prometheus, continuing their shepherding duties near Saturn's thin F ring as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

The shadow of Saturn cuts across the rings as seen by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. As the ring particles enter Saturn's shadow, their temperature drops to even colder temperatures, only to warm back up again when they re-emerge into the sunlight.

Stunning Edge-On View of Saturn From Cassini

Saturn's cloud belts generally move around the planet in a circular path, but one feature is slightly different. The planet's wandering, hexagon-shaped polar jet stream breaks the mold -- a reminder that surprises lurk everywhere in the solar system. This atmospheric feature was first observed by the Voyager mission in the early 1980s, and was dubbed the hexagon. Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer was first to spy the hexagon during the mission, since it could see the feature's outline while the pole was still immersed in wintry darkness. The hexagon became visible to Cassini's imaging cameras as sunlight returned to the northern hemisphere. This view looks toward the northern hemisphere of Saturn -- in summer when this view was acquired -- from above 65 degrees north latitude. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on June 28, 2017 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometer

Moonmade Ringscape

Bending the Rings

Exposure of Polar Layered Deposits

A shepherd moon can do more to define ring structures than just keep the flock of particles in line, as Cassini spacecraft images such as this have shown

Atlas and the Rings of Saturn

Gray Mimas appears to hover above the colorful rings. The large crater seen on the right side of the moon is named for William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789.

A bright spoke extends across the unilluminated side of Saturn's B ring about the same distance as that from London to Cairo. The background ring material displays some azimuthal (i.e., left to right) asymmetry

This beautiful look at Saturn's south polar atmosphere shows the hurricane-like polar storm swirling there. Sunlight highlights its high cloud walls, especially around the 10 o'clock position

Southern Storms and Streaks

Distant Rhea (right) poses here for the Cassini spacecraft, as Pandora hovers against Saturn's dark shadow on the rings

This collection of Cassini images provides context for understanding the location and scale of propeller-shaped features observed within Saturn's A ring

Pandora and Prometheus Near F Ring

Saturn's moon Rhea looms 'over' a smaller and more distant Epimetheus against a striking background of planet and rings. The two moons aren't actually close to each other.

The Cassini spacecraft watches as the shadows of Saturn's rings grow wider and creep farther south as the seasons progress from the planet's August 2009 equinox.

Moons with Separate Paths

Saturn's shadow stretched beyond the edge of its rings for many years after NASA's Cassini first arrived at Saturn, casting an ever-lengthening shadow that reached its maximum extent at the planet's 2009 equinox. This image was captured in 2015.

$The fractured terrain so distinctive to Dione curves away toward the south in this view, which looks down at the moon's northern hemisphere$

Two moons, Rhea and Dione, join the planet and its rings in this view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Rhea and Dione are respectively the second and fourth largest moons of Saturn, but they are tiny compared to the planet.

Vertical structures, among the tallest seen in Saturn's main rings, rise abruptly from the edge of Saturn's B ring to cast long shadows on the ring in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft two weeks before the planet's August 2009 equinox.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured Saturn's B ring showing off bright spokes in the middle of this image taken at high phase in visible light with the narrow-angle camera.

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