Saturn and its many moons always look so moody in black-and-white photos, and new images sent back to Earth from a probe exploring the ringed planet is no exception.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft flew by Saturn's moon Dione recently, and the images it captured from that close pass are incredible. Not only does one of them show Dione in all of its cratered glory, but Cassini also managed to snap a surprising shot showing Saturn, the planet's rings and Enceladus, another Saturnian moon.
The view was captured on Tuesday when Cassini was about 48,000 miles (around 77,000 km) from Dione. However, the spacecraft flew about 321 miles (516 km) from the moon's surface during its closest pass that day.
Another photo Cassini took during that pass shows a zoomed-in view of Dione's cratered surface:
"On Aug. 17, the spacecraft will make its final flyby of Dione, diving to within 295 miles (474 km) of the surface," NASA said in a statement. "The final Dione encounter will be Cassini's second-closest brush with the icy moon. A December 2011 flyby saw the spacecraft reach an altitude of just 60 miles (100 kilometers) above Dione."
Cassini has also been sending back great images of other moons orbiting Saturn. It recently captured some of Saturn's weird moon Hyperion, which was taken during a close flyby.
Cassini launched to space in 1997, and arrived at Saturn in 2004; since then, it has been exploring the giant planet and its 53 known moons. The spacecraft's long mission will likely end in 2017 when it runs out of fuel, and makes a planned crash into Saturn's atmosphere. But before then, Cassini is expected to fly between Saturn and its plane of unique rings.