Saturn Pictured In Extraordinary Detail By Nasa, Cassini And Gordan Ugarkovic (PICTURES)

LOOK: This Is The Best Picture Ever Taken Of Saturn
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This might be the best photo ever taken of Saturn.

Well, sort of taken. But sort of made too.

This image is the combined work of Nasa's Cassini spacecraft, and the Croatian software developer Gordan Ugarkovic who created it from 36 photographs of the ringed planet.

Open Image Modal

The original 36 images were taken on 10 October by Cassini, 12 each in red, green and blue filters. With the raw files in hand, Ugarkovic was able to make this mosaic which offers a view of Saturn unlike any we've seen before.

Cassini was "above" Saturn when the pictures were taken, looking down on the planet.

Details visible in the image include the strange hexagonal storm on the planet's north pole, the unusual 'banded' streams flowing around the planet's circumference and, of course, the rings - blocked out only by the planet's shadow.

Slate has more details about how the image was made, and you can check out the original photos over at Nasa's website.