<p><strong>Saturn casts a long shadow across its icy rings in a 2007 picture taken by NASA's <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html">Cassini-Huygens spacecraft</a>—an unattainable perspective from Earth's line of sight. The picture is among Cassini's ten best, chosen by National Geographic News photo editors to mark the probe's anniversary. </strong></p><p>Fifteen years ago this week, a <a href="http://exploration.grc.nasa.gov/education/rocket/gallery/titan/titan1.html">Titan rocket</a> launched the bus-size spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/united-states/florida-guide/">Florida</a>. In July 2004 Cassini finally entered Saturn orbit. Since then the probe has beamed back a steady stream of some 300,000 pictures and nearly 450 gigabytes of data about the ringed giant and its dozens of enigmatic moons.</p><p>Scientists used red, green, and blue filters to create the above natural-color mosaic, taken 700,000 miles (over a million kilometers) above Saturn's northern hemisphere.</p><p>After completing its extended mission in 2017, Cassini will likely be commanded to plunge into the gas-giant planet to prevent contamination of its moons, including Titan and Enceladus. (See "<a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/10/pictures/111004-saturn-moon-powdery-snow-enceladus/">Pictures: Saturn Moon Coated in Fresh Powder</a>.")</p><p><em>—Andrew Fazekas</em></p>