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Cassini's four-year tour of the Saturn system

Cassini's four-year tour of the Saturn system
Cassini's four-year tour of the Saturn system The left panel looks down upon the Saturn system from above Saturn's north pole, perpendicular to the rings. The Sun shines toward Saturn from the right (the positive X direction). The right panel looks across at the Saturn system in a view parallel to the rings, again with the Sun toward the right. The units along the X, Y, and Z axes are "Rs" or "Saturn Radii," that is, half the width of Saturn, or 60,330 kilometers. The dotted white circles in the left view show the orbits of Iapetus (bigger circle) and Titan (smaller circle). The colored ovals show the circuitous path of Cassini through the Saturn system. Different colors represent different phases of the mission. The small yellow circle at the very center shows the position of Saturn's rings. NASA / JPL-Caltech