…not without a spaceship, anyway. But Cassini can — and did — on October 10, 2013 (mostly because it IS a spaceship) and thanks to the image-editing skills of Gordan Ugarkovic you too can enjoy the incredible view!

Here we’re looking down onto the ringed planet from high above its north pole, its shadow cast onto the rings at left. It’s a perspective never seen from Earth. A bit of ringshine  — sunlight reflected off the icy particles in the rings — slightly illuminates Saturn’s night side. Varying hues highlight the different bands within Saturn’s atmosphere, and a button of sea-blue marks the 1200-mile-wide hurricane that churns above its north pole.

A truly amazing image — as Emily Lakdawalla stated in her article on the Planetary Society blog, “one for the history books!” Great work as always, Gordan!

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Assembled by Gordan Ugarkovic.