Saturn & Titan by ridingwithrobots on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Lovely shot, taken just yesterday, by the Cassini spacecraft.

My inexpert color work is very evident, but the planet shines anyway.

Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI

Dione by ridingwithrobots on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The ice moon Dione drifts above Saturn, as seen this week by the intrepid robotic spacecraft and photographer Cassini.

Approximate true color rendered by combining raw images taken through various filters, but I’m less expert than some at this process.

Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI

Crescent at Equinox by NASAJPL on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
The Cassini spacecraft looks down and pictures Saturn wrapped in a pencil-thin shadow of the rings just days after the planet’s August 2009 equinox.

Northern Swirl by NASAJPL on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
A large cloud formation swirls through the high northern latitudes of Saturn near the top of this Cassini spacecraft image.

Dione Sliding By Tethys by NASAJPL on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Saturn’s moon Dione passes by the moon Tethys in this Cassini spacecraft depiction of a “mutual event.” Mutual events occur when, from the vantage point of Cassini, one moon appears to pass close to or in front of another moon.

Panoramic Rings by oursolarsystem on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Date: 12 Dec 2004

Saturn’s most prominent feature, its dazzling ring system, takes center stage in this stunning natural color mosaic which reveals the color and diversity present in this wonder of the solar system. Gaps, gravitational resonances and wave patterns are all present, and the delicate color variations across the system are clearly visible.

This mosaic of six images covers a distance of approximately 62,000 km along the ring plane, from a radius of 74,565 km to 136,780 km (46,333 to 84,991 miles) from the planet’s center.

This view is from Cassini’s vantage point beneath the ring plane. The rings are tilted away from Cassini at an angle of about 4 degrees.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were used to create this natural color mosaic. The images were acquired using the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 12, 2004, at a distance of approximately 1.8 million km (1.1 million miles). The image scale is 10.5 km (6.5 miles) per pixel.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Jupiter Portrait by oursolarsystem on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Date: 29 Dec 2000

This true color mosaic of Jupiter was made with images taken by the narrow angle camera on board NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during its closest approach to the giant planet at a distance of approximately 10 million km (6.2 million miles).

It is the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever produced; the smallest visible features are approximately 60 km (37 miles) across. The mosaic is composed of 27 images: nine images were required to cover the entire planet in a tic-tac-toe pattern, and each of those locations was imaged in red, green, and blue to provide true color. Although Cassini’s camera can see more colors than humans can, Jupiter’s colors in this new view look very close to the way the human eye would see them.

Everything visible on the planet is a cloud. The parallel reddish-brown and white bands, the white ovals, and the large Great Red Spot persist over many years despite the intense turbulence visible in the atmosphere. The most energetic features are the small, bright clouds to the left of the Great Red Spot and in similar locations in the northern half of the planet. These clouds grow and disappear over a few days and generate lightning. Streaks form as clouds are sheared apart by Jupiter’s intense jet streams that run parallel to the colored bands. The prominent dark band in the northern half of the planet is the location of Jupiter’s fastest jet stream, with eastward winds of 480 km (300 miles) per hour. Jupiter’s diameter is eleven times that of Earth, so the smallest storms on this mosaic are comparable in size to the largest hurricanes on Earth.

Unlike Earth, where only water condenses to form clouds, Jupiter’s clouds are made of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and water. The updrafts and downdrafts bring different mixtures of these substances up from below, leading to clouds at different heights. The brown and orange colors may be due to trace chemicals dredged up from deeper levels of the atmosphere, or they may be byproducts of chemical reactions driven by ultraviolet light from the Sun. Bluish areas, such as the small features just north and south of the equator, are areas of reduced cloud cover, where one can see deeper.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Cut by Saturn’s Shadow by NASAJPL on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Saturn’s rings, partially darkened by the planet’s shadow, cut a striking figure before Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.