YOU think you know Saturn and then Saturn Gordan Ugarkovic creates the hereunder magnificent picture of the planet. It is huge – both picture and planet, that is. Others explain what we’re looking at:

Phil Plait:

On Oct. 10, 2013, Cassini took 36 shots of Saturn, a dozen each using red, green, and blue filters which approximate true color. Ugarkovic grabbed the raw files, processed them, and assembled them into this mosaic.

Lights In The Dark:

Here we’re looking down onto the ringed planet from high above its north pole, its shadow cast onto the rings at left. It’s a perspective never seen from Earth. A bit of ringshine  – sunlight reflected off the icy particles in the rings — slightly illuminates Saturn’s night side. Varying hues highlight the different bands within Saturn’s atmosphere, and a button of sea-blue marks the 1200-mile-wide hurricane that churns above its north pole.

The artist:

I’m a guy who does programming for a living, have a degree in computer science, but in free time I like to fool around with image processing…I’ve put up this gallery because I was somewhat underwhelmed by the frequency the Cassini Imaging Team releases color composites. Granted, there isn’t an overwhelming number of color sets available, but even when there is a chance to do color, the team often prefers grayscale. 

Cassini launched in October 1997, completed its initial mission “to explore the Saturn System” in June 2008 and was subsequently granted two mission extensions, the second of which will see it snapping the ringed planet until 2017.