The Cassini Spacecraft Has Taken Some Incredible Images Of Saturn In Its Decade Circling The Planet

Exactly 10 years ago, on July 3, 2004, NASA's Cassini spacecraft arrived at its main target: Saturn.

It had already traveled for about five years, having left Earth on October 15, 1997.

The space probe has traveled more than 3.8 billion miles and sent back more than 300,000 images.

During its travels, Cassini has swung around Venus twice, checked out Earth from space, and slipped by Jupiter on its way to Saturn and its moons, where the spacecraft has spent the last decade.

See the best images Cassini has beamed back >

From its observations, NASA has discovered some of Saturn's moons contain ice, organic particles, and lakes full of hydrocarbons. The probe has even sent back images of these amazing landscapes.

In November 2016, Cassini will begin a series of orbits that will get it ever closer to Saturn, and by Sept. 15, 2017, Cassini will enter Saturn's atmosphere, sending back the closest images of Saturn ever taken before the pressure and temperature of the gas giant's atmosphere destroys the probe.