Saturn system

The fine structure of Saturn's rings is shaped by the planet's many inner moons. When viewed in ultraviolet the spectacular rings resemble the ridges on a long-playing record.

Saturn looks like anything but a quiet place when viewed in ultraviolet. The giant planet features wayward moons, colliding meteoroids, rippling rings and flickering auroras.

Saturn looks like anything but a quiet place when viewed in ultraviolet. The giant planet features wayward moons, colliding meteoroids, rippling rings and flickering auroras.

The Cassini probe snapped a wide-angle picture that shows the moon Mimas in relative close proximity to the spectacular rings. Later Tuesday, Cassini will fly within about 1000 kilometers (~600 miles) of the largest moon Titan.

Saturn has an unusual magnetic environment, which acts as a planetary electrical transformer. The instrument measuring the charged Saturn on Cassini has already found a plasma between what previously was just thought to be a ring gap.

To see a hurricane grow on Earth, one's best view is from orbit. But on the windiest planet in the solar system, Saturnian clouds can gather to sizes greater than our tiny blue planet.

To see a hurricane grow on Earth, one's best view is from orbit. But on the windiest planet in the solar system, Saturnian clouds can gather to sizes greater than our tiny blue planet.

The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn caught a glimpse of Tethys, a cratered, icy moon. Notable for Tethys are its split fissure and enormous crater, both of which leave the impression that its fragile surface is remaking itself slowly.

The natural beauty of Saturn's rings shine through when Cassini looks on the nearly-translucent, icy debris in color.

The Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn takes a wide-angle view of the ringed planet's extended moon system. These mostly icy moons have highly reflective, bright surfaces and tend to smooth over many impact scars when their frozen veneers heal.