Revisiting a jaw-dropping Hubble view of Saturn and its moons

The Cassini mission ended last year when the out-of-fuel spacecraft plunged into the atmosphere of Saturn. But the Hubble Space Telescope is still providing jaw-dropping views of the ringed planet, including this composite image captured on 6 June showing the fully illuminated world and six of its known moons (left to right: Dione, Enceladus, Tethys, Janus, Epimetheus and Mimas).

This Hubble view was taken just before Saturn reached opposition on 27 June when the Sun, Earth and Saturn were in a line with Saturn’s rings seen tilted near maximum as viewed from Earth. A version of this image was posted here on 26 July but did not include the moons. The photo was collected as part of an ongoing study of outer planet atmospheres.

A stunning view of Saturn taken by the Hubble Space Telescope showing six of the planet’s 62 known moons. Image: NASA, ESA, A. Simon (GSFC) and the OPAL Team, and J. DePasquale (STScI)