By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | June 6, 2017 05:37pm ET


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https://img.purch.com/h/1400/aHR0cDo...dhcmZlZC5qcGc=

This image of Saturn's north polar vortex and hexagon, the planet's rings and its moon Mimas (tiny dot floating above the rings) was taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on March 27, 2017.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute


A dazzling new photo by NASA's Cassini spacecraft captures much of the grandeur, complexity and mystery of the Saturn system.

The image showcases the giant planet's bizarre north polar hexagon and the vortex that whirls at its center. Half hidden in shadow, Saturn's iconic rings lurk in the background, and a bright, tiny dot floats in space above them.

That dot is Saturn's 246-mile-wide (396 kilometers) moon Mimas, the smallest celestial body known that has been shaped into a sphere by its own gravity. Mimas sports a 81-mile-wide (130 km) crater, which makes the moon look a lot like the Death Star superweapon from the "Star Wars" films.

Cassini took the photo on March 27, when the probe was 617,000 miles (993,000 km) from Saturn and 27 degrees above the planet's ring plane, NASA officials said. The agency released the image yesterday (June 5).

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