According to a news release from NASA, the space agency’s Cassini spacecraft has captured stunning end-of-the-year photos of Saturn and two of the ringed planet’s moons, Titan and Enceladus. The planet and its moons are “dressed and dazzling.”

“During this, our tenth holiday season at Saturn, we hope that these images from Cassini remind everyone the world over of the significance of our discoveries in exploring such a remote and beautiful planetary system,” noted Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader, in a statement. “Happy holidays from all of us on Cassini.”

The photos of Enceladus depict the numerous fissures, fractures and ridges that adorn the icy moon’s surface. This particular moon is famous for the almost 100 geysers that are diffused across its south polar region and discharge small icy particles into space. A small fraction of these particles form the ringed planet’s E ring, but only if they have escaped Enceladus’ gravity.

Cassini also obtained natural-color images of Saturn’s biggest moon, Titan. They depict Titan’s lakes and seas of liquid methane and ethane for which the moon is famous. Besides Earth, Titan is the only place in the solar system known to have stable liquids on its surface. Cassini also spotted a rotating high-altitude vortex at Titan’s south pole.

The Cassini images also depict the north and south poles of the ringed planet. The globe of Saturn looks like a holiday ornament in a wide-angle photo looking at the ringed planet’s north pole. The planet’s south pole, on the other hand, shows stunning blue hues, bringing to mind a snowy winter wonderland.

“Until Cassini arrived at Saturn, we didn’t know about the hydrocarbon lakes of Titan, the active drama of Enceladus’ jets, and the intricate patterns at Saturn’s poles,” explained Linda Spilker, the Cassini project scientist at NASA’s JPL. “Spectacular images like these highlight that Cassini has given us the gift of knowledge, which we have been so excited to share with everyone.”

The never-before-seen photos can be viewed at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org.