NASA shows off sparkling new pictures of Saturn and its moons

Winter is approaching in the southern hemisphere of Saturn as evidenced by the familiar blue hue in this image taken during NASA's Cassini mission on July 29, 2013. (NASA / Space Science Institute)

PASADENA, Calif. -- A NASA spacecraft has sent holiday greetings from the outer solar system.

The space agency on Monday released dazzling new images of the ringed planet Saturn and its moons. The Cassini spacecraft took the pictures earlier this year.

Saturn resembled an ornament in one image, with a jet stream swirling at its north pole along with a hurricane-like storm.

Cassini also peered through the hazy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, revealing hydrocarbon lakes. The icy Saturn moon Enceladus appears as a white snowball.

Cassini, funded by NASA and the European and Italian space agencies, was launched in 1997. The spacecraft reached Saturn in 2004 and has been studying the planet and its many moons.