The Cassini spacecraft captured images of Saturn and its two moons,Titan and Enceladus, "dressed and dazzling."
"During this, our tenth holiday season at Saturn, we hope that these images from Cassini remind everyone the world over of the significance of our discoveries in exploring such a remote and beautiful planetary system," Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader, based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. said in a NASA news release. "Happy holidays from all of us on Cassini."
Cassini has been exploring the Saturn system since its launch back in 1997; the mission is set to continue through the year 2017. This year Cassini had a delightful holiday surprise for its Earthly fans.
The holiday photo "package" includes two views of the moon Enceladus that show its stunning surface features, such as "fissures, fractures and ridges," the news release reported. Enceladus looks like a giant glittery snowball that shoots impressive geysers from its south pole. These geysers tend to freeze and fall back onto the moon's surface in the form of snow.
The Christmas card also features Saturn's largest moon "Titan." Cassini peered through the object's "hazy orange" atmosphere, and caught a glimpse of its liquid methane and ethane lakes and oceans. A "swirling high-altitude vortex" was also captured at Titan's South Pole.
Saturn itself showed off the drastically-different colors of its north and south poles. In the Christmas photos Saturn looked like a "holiday ornament."
"Until Cassini arrived at Saturn, we didn't know about the hydrocarbon lakes of Titan, the active drama of Enceladus' jets, and the intricate patterns at Saturn's poles,"Linda Spilker, the Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. said. "Spectacular images like these highlight that Cassini has given us the gift of knowledge, which we have been so excited to share with everyone."