Just because a spacecraft is sent to study the moon doesn’t mean it can’t do a little extra skywatching now and then.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been circling the moon since 2009. But a new image NASA shared on Monday (Nov. 22) from the spacecraft shows a very different destination: Saturn, complete with the planet’s stunning rings.
LRO snapped the image on Oct. 13 using its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC). At the time, the spacecraft was about 56 miles (90 kilometers) above a lunar feature dubbed Lacus Veris, or the Lake of Spring, according to a NASA statement.
Related: Cassini’s greatest hits: The spacecraft’s best images of Saturn
The image shows the northern side of Saturn’s characteristic rings and more of the planet’s northern hemisphere than the southern. The northern hemisphere’s summer ended and its autumn began in March.
The ringed world’s year lasts for about 29 Earth years, making each season more than seven Earth years long.
LROC’s cameras were designed to study the moon, of course, so NASA had to manipulate the spacecraft carefully to catch such a stunning image of Saturn.
Although a similar image of Jupiter was able to spot some of the behemoth’s largest moons, LRO couldn’t pull off the same feat at Saturn. That’s because Saturn is dimmer than Jupiter, according to NASA — and both are much dimmer than the moon that LROC is tailored to study.
Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her on Twitter @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.