Cassini Near-Infrared "Noodle" Mosaic of Saturn

A CLOSER LOOK

This mosaic of 30 images was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on June 29, 2017, as it raced toward the gap between Saturn and its rings during one of 22 close passes over Saturn that comprise the mission's final phase, called the Grand Finale. For the first frame of the mosaic, Cassini's camera was pointed toward a location at approximately 80 degrees north latitude, as the spacecraft was flying 16,000 miles (26,000 kilometers) above the top of the clouds at 45 degrees north latitude. When the last frame was captured, the orbiter was 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) above 30 degrees north latitude and looking straight down at the planet. The images in this sequence were captured in near-infrared wavelengths using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera. The near-infrared channel cente

Explore NASA's original image record for credits and available downloads.