Saturn at its most beautiful and awe-inspiring

NASA’s Cassini orbiter has been dutifully documenting Saturn for more then 10 years. In the images it sends back to Earth, Saturn is a softly lit orb, its distinctive rings slicing through space. The planet’s delicate chiaroscuro, and its interplay with its satellites, have made one of the most mesmerizing subjects in space photography.

Pictures from Cassini, mostly in black and white, evoke the minimalist black and white photography of masters Hiroshi Sugimoto and Edward Weston.