--- description: It was 35 years ago that humankind got a close-up view of Saturn title: See the Photos That Taught Us About Saturn's Rings image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc98fcac107cdbe7/69886fcb196cf459f5038d99/1101801124_400.jpg?branch=production&width=828&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See the Photos That Taught Us About Saturn's Rings  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 12, 2015 7:00 PM CUT  The Nov. 24, 1980, cover of TIME The Nov. 24, 1980, cover of TIMECover Credit: JET PROPULSION LABORATORY.  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 12, 2015 7:00 PM CUT It was 35 years ago, on Nov. 12, 1980, that NASA’s Voyager 1 got as close to Saturn as it would in the course of its years-long mission. In the process, the probe—which had been launched about three years earlier—provided humankind with stunning image of the planet, as well as its rings and moons. In all the centuries of staring out into space that had come before, sky-gazers had not been able to decipher many of the mysteries of the far-away planet. How many moons did the planet have? Not three, it turned out, but at least 15\. And how many rings were there? Astronomers had long thought the answer was six, but suddenly it appeared that there were 1,000 of them, as TIME reported in a cover story the following week: --- > “” --- “We have learned more about the Saturn system in the past week,” one scientist noted at the time, “than in the entire span of recorded history. **_Read the full Saturn cover story, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Encounter in Space](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-11-24/pages/ "undefined")  The Nov. 24, 1980, cover of TIME Cover Credit: JET PROPULSION LABORATORY.  A spread from the Nov. 24, 1980, issue of TIME TIME  A spread from the Nov. 24, 1980, issue of TIME TIME  A page from the Nov. 24, 1980, issue of TIME TIME  A spread from the Nov. 24, 1980, issue of TIME TIME  This montage of images of the Saturnian system was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980\. This artist's view shows Dione in the forefront, Saturn rising behind, Tethys and Mimas fading in the distance to the right, Enceladus and Rhea off Saturn's rings to the left, and Titan in its distant orbit at the top. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. JPL/NASA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4101734/voyager-1-photo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4101734/voyager-1-photo/"},"headline":"See the Photos That Taught Us About Saturn's Rings","datePublished":"2015-11-12T19:00:58.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:02.314Z","description":"It was 35 years ago that humankind got a close-up view of Saturn","url":"https://time.com/4101734/voyager-1-photo/","keywords":["Space","Science topic","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc98fcac107cdbe7/69886fcb196cf459f5038d99/1101801124_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltcc98fcac107cdbe7/69886fcb196cf459f5038d99/1101801124_400.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nov. 24, 1980","caption":"Nov. 24, 1980","creditText":"Cover Credit: JET PROPULSION LABORATORY.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4101734/voyager-1-photo/","name":"See the Photos That Taught Us About Saturn's Rings"}}]}] ```