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Full splendour of Saturn's stately rings

Never-before-seen views of the ringed planet

2 March 2007
The Cassini spacecraft, part of the joint NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission, has captured never-before-seen views of Saturn from perspectives high above and below the planet's rings.

Over the last several months, the spacecraft has climbed to higher and higher inclinations, providing its cameras with glimpses of the planet and rings that have scientists gushing.


	The Great Crossing of Saturn's rings

"Finally, here are the views that we've waited years for," said Dr Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, USA. "Sailing high above Saturn and seeing the rings spread out beneath us like a giant, copper medallion is like exploring an alien world we've never seen before. It just doesn't look like the same place. It's so utterly breath-taking, it almost gives you vertigo."


View of an alien copper-coloured ring world

The images were taken over last two months and include black and white and colour mosaics, as well as a dramatic movie sequence showing the rings as they appeared to Cassini while it sped from south to north, rapidly crossing the ring plane. Also released is a playful view of the rings from high above, with the planet removed.

Cassini's highly inclined orbits around Saturn will be progressively lowered so that, by late June - three years after entering orbit - the spacecraft will once more be orbiting in the ring plane.

Note for editors

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

For more information

Jean-Pierre Lebreton, ESA Huygens Project Scientist
Email: jean-pierre.lebreton @ esa.int

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