PHOTO: Saturn’s Holiday Closeup

Just before Christmas, NASA released a photo of Saturn that we can’t resist posting.

Here’s how the space agency describes the image:

“The globe of Saturn, seen here in natural color, is reminiscent of a holiday ornament in this wide-angle view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The characteristic hexagonal shape of Saturn’s northern jet stream, somewhat yellow here, is visible. At the pole lies a Saturnian version of a high-speed hurricane, eye and all. …

“This view was acquired at a distance of approximately 611,000 miles (984,000 kilometers) from Saturn.”

There’s also a pretty impressive image of “Saturn’s largest and second largest moons, Titan and Rhea [which] appear to be stacked on top of each other in this true-color scene.”

(H/T to University Herald.)

Related posts from the past year or so:

— LOOK: Cassini’s Version Of ‘The Pale Blue Dot’

— Look Up And Smile: NASA’s Taking More Photos Of Earth

— Saturn Shows Off A Massive Spinning Vortex: ‘The Rose’

— Infrared Views Of Two Of Saturn’s Moons Reveal ‘Pac-Man’ Features

— On Saturn, Cassini Observes Huge Storm, Causing Incredible Temperature Spike

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