July 1, 2025
On this date in 2004, Cassini-Huygens became the first spacecraft to reach and orbit the planet Saturn. Approximately 6 months after reaching Saturn, the Huygens portion of the spacecraft was released and landed on Saturn’s moon Titan. Cassini continued to monitor Saturn and the surrounding system of rings and moons until 2017, when it plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere.
The image above is one of Cassini’s first images taken of Saturn in 2001. When this photo was taken, Cassini was still 177 million miles away from Saturn. Towards the top of the planet, Saturn’s largest moon Titan is visible. If you want to find more images from the Cassini mission, visit https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/cassini
Image courtesy of NASA.
