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PHOTO: Saturn's Holiday Closeup

By Mark Memmott
Published December 27, 2013 at 10:35 AM CST
Saturn, looking something like a hand-painted ornament, in a newly released image from NASA.
NASA.gov
Saturn, looking something like a hand-painted ornament, in a newly released image from NASA.

Just before Christmas, NASA released a photo of Saturn that we can't resist posting.

Here's how the space agency describes the image:

"The globe of Saturn, seen here in natural color, is reminiscent of a holiday ornament in this wide-angle view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The characteristic hexagonal shape of Saturn's northern jet stream, somewhat yellow here, is visible. At the pole lies a Saturnian version of a high-speed hurricane, eye and all. ...

"This view was acquired at a distance of approximately 611,000 miles (984,000 kilometers) from Saturn."

Rhea, Saturn's second-largest moon, seen in front of Titan.
/ NASA.gov
/
NASA.gov
Rhea, Saturn's second-largest moon, seen in front of Titan.

There's also a pretty impressive image of "Saturn's largest and second largest moons, Titan and Rhea [which] appear to be stacked on top of each other in this true-color scene."

( H/T to University Herald.)

Related posts from the past year or so:

-- LOOK: Cassini's Version Of 'The Pale Blue Dot'

-- Look Up And Smile: NASA's Taking More Photos Of Earth

-- Saturn Shows Off A Massive Spinning Vortex: 'The Rose'

-- Infrared Views Of Two Of Saturn's Moons Reveal 'Pac-Man' Features

-- On Saturn, Cassini Observes Huge Storm, Causing Incredible Temperature Spike

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Mark Memmott
Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.
See stories by Mark Memmott