Saturn rocks! Or rather not, actually. The planet is made of gas for the most part, but it does have a belt of dust infested ice around it. It is this belt that makes Saturn the 'template' planet. If we want to draw a planet, it is much like a simplified Saturn. Strictly speaking it could also be the other gas planets but their rings are faint in comparison. Saturn is the archetype of a planet.

Saturn is the most stylish planet; none above, none by its side. I have spent way too much time looking at the elegant images published by NASA's programs in particular, but there are also some magnificent images coming from ESA. It is a major distraction for me, that is how stylish Saturn is. I can't help myself no matter what I am doing or how pressured I am for time, if a striking image of Saturn pops up on my screen, Saturn it is that gets my attention.


A Splendor Seldom Seen. This is an extraordinary image of Saturn. The Cassini-Huygens satellite was in the shadows of Saturn and therefore able to take a rare backlit image of Saturn.  If you are like me, you will want see the big version. Go to Ciclops (Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations) where they handle all the images, and click on the little image of Saturn to embiggen. It is magnificent!  I also recommend you read the Captain's log (Carolyn Proco). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Indulge in Saturn through the Cassini-Huygens program – a joint NASA (USA), ESA (Europe) and ASI (Italy) program:

Saturn at NASA
Saturn at ESA- Cassini-Huygens
Saturn at ASI- Cassini-Huygens