Insanely Awesome Raw Cassini Images of Titan and Enceladus

By Nancy Atkinson - May 23, 2011 08:58 PM UTC | Planetary Science

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An incredible set of images are beaming back from the Cassini spacecraft as it orbits Saturn, snapping away at the sights. The moons Titan and Enceladus snuggling up together in front of Saturn's rings creates an amazing view, especially when they are all lined up together. These were taken on May 21, 2011. I've posted some of what I think are the most amazing, below, or you can see the

whole set at the Cassini raw images page.

When the Cassini imaging team gets a chance to process (and colorize) these, they'll likely go down as some of the most representative images from the entire mission.

[caption id="attachment_85886" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Titan snuggles up to Saturn and its rings. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="attachment_85887" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Titan, Enceladus and an onside view of Saturn's rings. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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Hat tip to

Stu Atkinson!

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com