The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Saturn's magnificent rings show some of their intricate structure in this image taken on 11 May 2004, by the Cassini-Huygens narrow-angle camera. Although they appear to be solid structures, the rings are composed of millions of individual particles, each one orbiting the planet on its own path.
Satellites visible in this image: Janus (181 kilometres across) above the rings, and icy Enceladus (499 kilometres across) below the rings. The F ring shepherd moons Prometheus and Pandora can be seen along Saturn's outermost F ring if the image is further contrast enhanced. The image was taken in visible light from a distance of 26.3 million kilometres from Saturn. The image scale is 158 kilometres (98 miles) per pixel. Contrast in the image was enhanced to aid visibility.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency.