Photo essays that offer a peek into the very human life of a robotic mission.
A deeper look at the sophisticated systems that deliver the stunning science and images from the Saturnian system.
Cassini's exploration of Saturn spans decades. Dive deep into the journey with this interactive timeline.
Before Cassini arrived at the Saturn system, planetary explorers had only hints that something interesting might be happening at Enceladus. Now our Enceladus discoveries have changed the direction of planetary science.
Where is Cassini Now?
Read more about Cassini's spectacular, new science mission as it plunges - for the first time ever - between Saturn's cloud tops and its innermost ring.
Raw Image Search
Explore the latest images beamed back from Saturn with this powerful, new search tool.
The latest stories from Saturn. Explore a historical archive dating back to the earliest days of the mission.
Go beyond the headlines with in depth stories about the mission and the Saturnian system.
Fact sheets, printable materials, spacecraft models and other resources about the Cassini-Huygens mission.
Detailed information about key moments in the mission.
Cassini Significant Events 1/27/16 - 2/2/16
Titan Flyby T-116: Multiple Occultations
Saturn's Rings: Less than Meets the Eye?
Preston Dyches

Saturn's B ring is the most opaque of the main rings, appearing almost black in this Cassini image taken from the unlit side of the ring plane.
Researchers "weighed" the central parts of Saturn's most massive ring for the first time.
The results confirm that more opaque areas in the rings do not necessarily contain more material.
Research on the mass of Saturn's rings has important implications for their age.
It seems intuitive that an opaque material should contain more stuff than a more translucent substance. For example, muddier water has more suspended particles of dirt in it than clearer water. Likewise, you might think that, in the rings of Saturn, more opaque areas contain a greater concentration of material than places where the rings seem more transparent.
But this intuition does not always apply, according to a recent study of the rings using data from NASA's Cassini mission. In their analysis, scientists found surprisingly little correlation between how dense a ring might appear to be -- in terms of its opacity and reflectiveness -- and the amount of material it contains.
Some parts of Saturn's B ring are up to 10 times more opaque than the neighboring A ring, but the B ring may weigh in at only two to three times the A ring's mass.
The new results concern Saturn's B ring, the brightest and most opaque of Saturn's rings, and are consistent with previous studies that found similar results for Saturn's other main rings.
The scientists found that, while the opacity of the B ring varied by a large amount across its width, the mass - or amount of material - did not vary much from place to place. They "weighed" the nearly opaque center of the B ring for the first time -- technically, they determined its mass density in several places -- by analyzing spiral density waves. These are fine-scale ring features created by gravity tugging on ring particles from Saturn's moons, and the planet's own gravity. The structure of each wave depends directly on the amount of mass in the part of the rings where the wave is located.
"At present it's far from clear how regions with the same amount of material can have such different opacities. It could be something associated with the size or density of individual particles, or it could have something to do with the structure of the rings," said Matthew Hedman, the study's lead author and a Cassini participating scientist at the University of Idaho, Moscow. Cassini co-investigator Phil Nicholson of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, co-authored the work with Hedman.
"Appearances can be deceiving," said Nicholson. "A good analogy is how a foggy meadow is much more opaque than a swimming pool, even though the pool is denser and contains a lot more water."
Research on the mass of Saturn's rings has important implications for their age. A less massive ring would evolve faster than a ring containing more material, becoming darkened by dust from meteorites and other cosmic sources more quickly. Thus, the less massive the B ring is, the younger it might be -- perhaps a few hundred million years instead of a few billion.
"By 'weighing' the core of the B ring for the first time, this study makes a meaningful step in our quest to piece together the age and origin of Saturn's rings," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "The rings are so magnificent and awe-inspiring, it's impossible for us to resist the mystery of how they came to be."
While all the giant planets in our solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) have ring systems of their own, Saturn's are clearly different. Explaining why Saturn's rings are so bright and vast is an important challenge in understanding their formation and history. For scientists, the density of material packed into each section of the rings is a critical factor in ascribing their formation to a physical process.
An earlier study by members of Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer team had suggested the possibility that there might be less material in the B ring than researchers had thought. The new analysis is the first to directly measure the density of mass in the ring and demonstrate that this is the case.
Hedman and Nicholson used a new technique to analyze data from a series of observations by Cassini's visible and infrared mapping spectrometer as it peered through the rings toward a bright star. By combining multiple observations, they were able to identify spiral density waves in the rings that aren't obvious in individual measurements.
This image is cropped from a panoramic view of Saturn's main ring system, and includes the names of major ring features.
The analysis also found that the overall mass of the B ring is unexpectedly low. It was surprising, said Hedman, because some parts of the B ring are up to 10 times more opaque than the neighboring A ring, but the B ring may weigh in at only two to three times the A ring's mass.
Despite the low mass found by Hedman and Nicholson, the B ring is still thought to contain the bulk of material in Saturn's ring system. And although this study leaves some uncertainty about the ring's mass, a more precise measurement of the total mass of Saturn's rings is on the way. Previously, Cassini had measured Saturn's gravity field, telling scientists the total mass of Saturn and its rings. In 2017, Cassini will determine the mass of Saturn alone by flying just inside the rings during the final phase of its mission. The difference between the two measurements is expected to finally reveal the rings' true mass.
The study was published online by the journal Icarus.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more information about Cassini, visit:

 Preston Dyches
Cassini Galleries
Cassini has returned thousands of great images. These are the best of the best.
We provide the data. You provide the inspiration. A look at some of the fantastic amateur artwork created with Cassini data.
Illustrations, artwork and infographics that reveal how the Cassini mission works.
There's an especially pretty view of Saturn on October 27th, when it forms a straight line with Venus and Antares, low in the western sky just after sunset! October 20, 2016
Saturn Fades into the Sunset
As winter comes to the southern parts of Saturn's moon Titan, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been following dramatic seasonal changes in the temperature and composition of the atmosphere there. October 20, 2016
Cassini sees dramatic seasonal changes on Titan
At the end of next month, Cassini will yet again be on course to go where no spacecraft has gone before. This time it will be Saturn's narrow, bright F ring. October 13, 2016
Cassini Significant Events 10/05/16 - 10/11/16
Cassini executed another close encounter with Titan this week: T-123 was one of the few remaining in the mission.
Dive deep into the story of the Cassini-Huygens mission to explore the Saturnian system.
The Spacecraft
Find out how the Cassini orbiter and Huygens lander work and how we use the powerful suite of science instruments with this engaging 3D model.
A glimpse at the men and women behind the exploring machines.
This Website is produced by the Cassini Science Communications Team at
Site Manager: Alice Wessen
Editor: Phillips Davis
Science Writers: Bill Dunford, Enrico Piazza and Jay R. Thompson