While cruising around Saturn in early October 2004, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into this large global natural color view of Saturn and its rings.

Adorned with thousands of beautiful ringlets, Saturn is unique among the planets. All four gas giant planets have rings -- made of chunks of ice and rock -- but none are as spectacular or as complicated as Saturn's. Like the other gas giants, Saturn is mostly a massive ball of hydrogen and helium.

Featured Mission: Cassini
NASA's Cassini orbiter is on an extended mission to explore Saturn and its rings, its magnetosphere and its moons. Cassini also delivered Europe's Huygens probe to its historic landing on Titan in 2005.

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