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"Everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler", Albert Einstein
Browsing All posts tagged under »Saturn«
Cassini captures spectacle in Saturn’s shadow
Just in time for the holidays, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn for more than eight years now, has delivered another glorious, backlit view of the planet Saturn and its rings. On Oct. 17, 2012, during its 174th orbit around the gas giant, Cassini was deliberately positioned within Saturn’s shadow, a perfect location from […]
Tiny Tethys
December 3, 2012
Tethys may not be tiny by normal standards, but when it is captured alongside Saturn, it can’t help but seem pretty small. Even Saturn’s rings appear to dwarf Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across), which is in the upper left of the image, although scientists believe the moon to be many times more massive […]
Cassini Finds a Video Gamers’ Paradise at Saturn
November 26, 2012
You could call this “Pac-Man, the Sequel.” Scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission have spotted a second feature shaped like the 1980s video game icon in the Saturn system, this time on the moon Tethys. (The first was found on Mimas in 2010). The pattern appears in thermal data obtained by Cassini’s composite infrared spectrometer, with […]
Video: Saturn’s Record-Setting Storm
October 26, 2012
Saturn’s 2010 Great White Spot storm has set a new record for largest temperature change ever recorded for a storm on Saturn. By studying the monstrous disturbance using NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, researchers spotted a massive belch of energy that sent temperatures soaring to an unprecedented 150 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in Saturn’s stratosphere, accompanied by […]
Cassini Shows Why Jet Streams Cross-Cut Saturn
June 25, 2012
Turbulent jet streams, regions where winds blow faster than in other places, churn east and west across Saturn. Scientists have been trying to understand for years the mechanism that drives these wavy structures in Saturn’s atmosphere and the source from which the jets derive their energy. In a new study appearing in the June edition […]
Cassini Captures New Images of Icy Moon
March 12, 2012
These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn’s second largest moon, Rhea, were taken on March 10, 2012, by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. This was a relatively distant flyby with a close-approach distance of 26,000 miles (42,000 kilometers), well suited for global geologic mapping. During the flyby, Cassini captured these distinctive views of the moon’s cratered surface, creating […]
Saturn and Its Moon Dione
February 2, 2012
Dione on a Diagonal Saturn and Dione appear askew in this Cassini spacecraft view, with the north poles rotated to the right, as if they were threaded along on the thin diagonal line of the planet’s rings. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Dione (698 miles, or 1,123 kilometers across). North on Dione […]
Moon, Saturn and Spica
December 19, 2011
The Moon and two bright companions line up across the southeast before dawn tomorrow. The closer of the Moon’s companions is Spica, the leading light of the constellation Virgo. It’s to the left or lower left of the Moon. The other is the planet Saturn, which is to the left of Spica. Saturn is the […]
Cassini Spacecraft Captures Images And Sounds Of Big Saturn Storm
July 6, 2011
Scientists analyzing data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth. On Dec. 5, 2010, Cassini first detected the storm that has been raging ever since. It appears at approximately 35 degrees north latitude on Saturn. Pictures from Cassini’s imaging […]
Cassini Captures Ocean-Like Spray at Saturn Moon
June 23, 2011
PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered the best evidence yet for a large-scale saltwater reservoir beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The data came from the spacecraft’s direct analysis of salt-rich ice grains close to the jets ejected from the moon. Data from Cassini’s cosmic dust analyzer show the grains expelled […]
Video: Cassini – Helene
June 22, 2011
Animation made using the raw images from Cassini’s flyby of Saturn’s moon, Helene on 18/6/2011
Saturn’s Moon Phoebe
June 13, 2011
Cosmic Mystery with a Violent Past Saturn’s moon, Phoebe’s violent, cratered past is evident in this 3-D image of the tiny moon. The Sun is coming from the left, illuminating craters and bumps on the surface, along with a prominent ridge-like feature in the middle. Bright material, likely to be ice, is exposed atop this […]
December 19, 2012
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