Living here on planet Earth, we sometimes forget that the other planets have seasons of their own. In accordance with Johannes Kepler's third law of planetary motion, Saturn makes a complete orbit around our sun much more slowly than our little pale blue dot--the reference to which the late Dr. Carl Sagan made with regards to our planet.

Recently, under the supervision of Carolyn Porco, the Cassini imaging team leader, the Cassini team took an image of Saturn while it was going into its Vernal equinox. While we here on Earth approach our planet's Winter solstice, Saturn for the first time in almost 15 years is going into its Spring season. And it is only through the efforts of the Cassini team that we as a species are able to witness this remarkable event close-up and first-hand.

Words fail to describe this silent event, which otherwise would go unnoticed by the average person living on planet Earth. But we as astronomers do take notice and appreciate the value of a picture, which according to an ancient Chinese proverb, is worth more than a thousand words than I or anyone else could utter. I present to you Springtime on Saturn. Behold and be amazed!

APOD: 2009 September 30 - Saturn at Equinox