Saturn: A Year in Review

Saturn and its moons made many headlines in 2013, largely thanks to NASA's Cassini probe, which has spent the last nine years in orbit around the iconic ringed planet.

In 2013, we learned:

• The rings around Saturn are bodies that have been around for more than 4 billion years, and that their coloring is due to "pollution" from passing meteors and comets.

• That the hexagon - a mysterious weather pattern on Saturn's northern hemisphere - has clouds the size of Texas and 300 mph winds.

• That time on Saturn is variable because of seasonal changes on the planet's poles.

• That intense atmospheric pressure may cause the carbon particles created by the planet's powerful storms to transform into gigantic diamonds in the planet's gaseous core.

• Saturn's largest moon, Titan, was topographically mapped for the first time in 2013, and scientists were also able to calculate the depth and volume of the moon's liquid methane oceans.

• Also on Titan, NASA scientists detected the chemical propylene, a key component in household plastic products, which was the first time the chemical was found on any moon or planet other than Earth.

• And, of course, there was this incredible picture of Saturn, which was assembled by amateur image processor Gordan Ugarkovic using pictures taken by the Cassini spacecraft: