Cassini Images Titan and Saturn Together

A beautiful change in the color of Saturn is visible in this image recently released by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, which manages the NASA Cassini orbiter. The gas giant's largest moon, Titan, is also visible in the foreground, in true colors.

When the satellite achieved orbital insertion around the planet, on July 1, 2004, winter had already settled in at Saturn's northern hemisphere, and the clouds above were a beautiful azure blue.

At this point, the color scheme is reversing, as winter is moving into the southern hemisphere. The images the JPL team just released were snapped in May, June and July, 2012. More photos are available here.

“Some of these views, such as those of the polar vortex, are only possible because Cassini's newly inclined – or tilted – orbits allow more direct viewing of the polar regions of Saturn and its moons,” the JPL team says in a statement.