Happy Valentine’s Day From Saturn! Cassini Images Show A Giant Heart On The Planet

Celebrate the day of love with a beautiful image from Saturn, created with composite images taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. The photo actually makes us feel that Saturn is wishing earthlings a "Happy Valentine’s Day."

Put a Ring on It! Saturn Impresses in Stunning Valentine's Day Photos

NASA's Cassini spacecraft sends its love thi… pic.twitter.com/lFwzVLTmDn

— Moonipulations (@Moonipulations) February 12, 2017

A joint collaboration led by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, the Cassini-Huygens mission has taken spectacular images of Saturn that are published on an official gallery online. Anyone can download the images to create their own artistic renditions.

From Saturn, with love. #ValentinesDay https://t.co/z5b3zwWtml pic.twitter.com/u0Jz7XAsf7

— CassiniSaturn (@CassiniSaturn) February 13, 2017

"We are so gratified that Cassini's images have inspired people to work with the pictures themselves to produce such beautiful creations," said Linda Spilker, project scientist for Cassini. “It has been truly wonderful for us to feel the love for Cassini from the public. The feeling from those of us on the mission is mutual.” The particular image on this page is a composite of photos taken by Cassini on July 19, 2013. The picture shows Enceladus, Saturn's tiny moon tucked within the E ring of the planet.

The Cassini mission, which was launched in 1997, is in its final year in orbit around Saturn. Having arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, the probe has been conducting an up-close study of the planet, its ring, moons and vast magnetosphere. The mission has made various discoveries -- like the presence of a global ocean within Enceladus and liquid methane seas on Titan, another moon of Saturn -- as well as regaled us with many beautiful images.

Now, the Cassini Mission is launching a campaign to celebrate how its exploration of Saturn has sparked wonder and curiosity, which will continue through the remaining days of the probe until its conclusion in September. Called Cassini Inspires, the activity invites the public to share their original Saturn-inspired creations in the form of video, fiction, poetry, music, painting and any other format that can be shared online.