This natural color view was created from images collected shortly after Cassini began its extended Equinox Mission in July 2008.  This mosaic combines 30 images, 10 each of red, green and blue light, taken over a period of about two hours. 
Six moons are visible: Titan, Janus , Mimas, Pandora, Epimetheus and Enceladus.  Cassini was about 1,100,000 km (690,000 miles) from Saturn. 
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard
Deborah & William Hillyard

Solar System -

Saturn

A six-sided feature encircling the north pole of Saturn.  Taken by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.  The nested set of alternating white and dark hexagons indicates that the feature extends at least 75 km (47 miles) underneath the clouds.  The outer, straight sides are approximately 13,800 km (8,625 miles) long.  The feature is nearly stationary, and is probably an unusually strong pole-encircling planetary wave. 
Seen from the Earth, the view of Saturn's rings during equinox is extremely foreshortened and limited. From 20 degrees above the ring-plane, Cassini's shot shows Saturn a day and a half after Saturn equinox, when the sun's disk was exactly overhead at the planet's equator.  These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after Saturn's equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years.    
A Brief Video about Saturn.
 

Images of Saturn

In the lower left of this Cassini image, there is a storm in the atmosphere of the southern hemisphere.  It appears as a blue circle in this true color photograph.  The view is up toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 36° below the ringplane. 
This image has been enhanced, and appears in false color to exaggerate the details seen in the atmosphere of Saturn's southern hemisphere.  Taken by the Cassini spacecraft from a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles) from Saturn. 
Similar to the above, this image has been enhanced to bring out detail.  Taken by the Cassini spacecraft from a distance of approximately 492,000 kilometers (306,000 miles) from Saturn. 
All Images Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
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