Tag Archive for 'Saturn'

Saturn’s B ring is the brightest and most opaque of the gas giant’s main rings, appearing almost black in this Cassini image taken from the unlit side of the ringplane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Saturn’s B Ring Surprises Planetary Scientists

Feb 5, 2016 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the United States has found surprisingly little correlation between how dense a Saturn’s ring might appear to be...

This image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Beams Back Stunning Image of Saturn

Jan 11, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter has sent an amazing picture of Saturn, one of the Solar System’s gas giants. This image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft,...

NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Makes Final Visit to Saturn’s Moon Enceladus

Dec 22, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter made a close flyby of Enceladus on December 19, the last targeted Enceladus encounter of the mission. This unprocessed...

Like a cosmic bull’s-eye, the two Saturnian moons line up almost perfectly for Cassini’s narrow-angle camera. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Tethys and Enceladus Line up Perfectly for NASA’s Cassini Robotic Orbiter

Dec 15, 2015 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has snapped an amazing image of two of Saturn’s moons: Tethys and Enceladus. The Saturn moons Tethys (far) and Enceladus...

This composite image shows an infrared view of Titan. In this image blue represents wavelengths centered at 1.3 microns, green represents 2.0 microns, and red represents 5.0 microns. A view at visible wavelengths would show only Titan’s hazy atmosphere; the near-infrared wavelengths in this image allow Cassini’s vision to penetrate the haze and reveal the moon’s surface. The view looks toward terrain that is mostly on the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Scientists Release Stunning New Image of Saturn’s Largest Moon Titan

Dec 10, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter captured this view of Titan during a moderately close flyby on November 13, 2015. This composite image shows an infrared...

This image of Saturn’s moon Epimetheus was taken by NASA’s Cassini robotic probe on December 6. The view looks toward the Saturn facing side of the tiny moon. North on Epimetheus is up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Takes New Images of Saturn’s Small Moons: Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus

Dec 9, 2015 by Natali Anderson

New images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft offer close-ups of three of Saturn’s tiny moons – Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus. Cassini captured...

Photomontage of Saturn with a false-color image of UV aurora taken with Hubble’s Imaging Spectrograph on January 24, 2004, superimposed on an image of visible light taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys on March 22, 2004. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Clarke, Boston University / Z. Levay, STScI.

Scientists Find Evidence for Explosive Releases of Energy in Saturn’s Magnetosphere

Dec 1, 2015 by Natali Anderson

Planetary scientists using data from NASA’s Cassini orbiter have found direct evidence for ‘explosions’ in the magnetosphere of the gas giant Saturn. Photomontage...

Dione in front of Saturn’s rings. This view, acquired by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during a close flyby of the icy moon on August 17, is centered on terrain at 7 degrees south latitude, 122 degrees west longitude. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Reveals New Close-Up Image of Dione

Nov 27, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

This close-up view of Dione was taken by NASA’s Cassini robotic probe during its flyby of this icy moon of Saturn on August 17, 2015. Dione in front...

This image, taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on September 8, shows Dione (near) and Enceladus (far). Although these moons are composed of nearly the same materials, Enceladus has a considerably higher reflectivity than Dione. This view looks toward the leading hemisphere of Enceladus. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 1 degree to the right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Spies Two of Saturn’s Moons: Dione and Enceladus

Nov 19, 2015 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has snapped a beautiful photo of two Saturnian moons, Dione and Enceladus. This image, taken with Cassini’s narrow-angle...

Close-up view of Epimetheus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures New Image of Saturn’s Small Moon Epimetheus

Nov 13, 2015 by Natali Anderson

NASA has released the latest image of Epimetheus, one of Saturn’s smaller moons. This image of Saturn’s small moon Epimetheus was captured on July...

In 2012 Cassini spotted a cloud system called the south polar vortex in Titan’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 186 miles. The spacecraft’s instrument has now detected a massive ice cloud below it. This image was taken by Cassini in 2013. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Detects Giant Cloud of Frozen Compounds on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Nov 11, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected a giant new ice cloud in low- to mid-stratosphere of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. In 2012 Cassini spotted...

An artist’s conception of a gas giant planet and its moons. Image credit: Greg Bacon, STScI / NASA.

Jupiter May Have Ejected Solar System’s Fifth Giant Planet, Astronomers Say

Oct 30, 2015 by News Staff

A close encounter with Jupiter approximately 4 billion years ago may have resulted in another giant planet’s ejection from the Solar System, according...

This image from Cassini shows battered terrain around the north pole of Enceladus. Craters crowd and overlap each other, each one recording an impact in the moon’s distant past. The moon’s north pole lies approximately at the top of this image. North on Enceladus is up. The view was acquired at a distance of 4,000 miles (6,000 km) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 8 degrees. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

New Close-Up Photos of Saturn’s Moon Enceladus Released by NASA

Oct 18, 2015 by News Staff

NASA scientists have released the best views yet of the northern extremes of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The images were collected as the agency’s Cassini...

Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. The shapes of moons can teach planetary scientists much about their history. This image was captured on July 26, 2015, when Cassini was nearly 904,000 miles (1.4 million km) from Mimas and 485,000 miles (781,000 km) from Pandora. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Amazing View of Saturn’s Moons Mimas and Pandora

Oct 15, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

This newly released image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows two of Saturn’s moons, Mimas and Pandora, and the planet’s rings. Although Mimas and...

This global digital map of Titan was created using images taken by Cassini’s imaging science subsystem (ISS). The mean radius of Titan used for projection of this map is 1,600 miles (2,575 km). Titan is assumed to be spherical until a control network is created at some point in the future. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Releases Updated Maps of Saturn’s Moon Titan

Oct 13, 2015 by News Staff

NASA has released a global digital map of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and two polar stereographic maps its northern and southern hemispheres. This...

This Cassini image shows the night sides of Saturn and Tethys. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Captures Dark Sides of Saturn and Tethys

Sep 17, 2015 by News Staff

This beautiful image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows the night sides of Saturn and its fifth largest moon, Tethys. This Cassini image shows the...

This illustration is a speculative representation of the interior of Enceladus with a global ocean between its rocky core and icy crust. The thickness of layers shown here is not to scale. Scientists determined that the slight wobble of the moon as it orbits Saturn is much too large for the moon to be frozen from surface to core. The wobble, technically referred to as a libration, reveals that the crust of Enceladus is disconnected from its rocky interior. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Enceladus Harbors Global Subsurface Ocean

Sep 16, 2015 by News Staff

Planetary researchers with NASA’s Cassini mission have found a large body of water beneath the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This color view...

This composite image shows Saturn’s main rings, the F ring, and its shepherd satellites: the narrow F ring is located just outside of the outer edge of the main rings; slightly above and to the left of the center of the image are the shepherd satellites Prometheus (inner orbit) and Pandora (outer orbit). Image credit: NASA.

Saturn’s F Ring is Natural Outcome of Satellite System Formation, Researchers Say

Aug 23, 2015 by News Staff

Saturn’s F ring and its shepherd satellites, Prometheus and Pandora, are natural outcome of the final stage of formation of Saturn’s satellite system,...

This view from Cassini looks toward Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, just prior to the mission’s final close approach to the moon on August 17. The view was acquired at distances ranging from approximately 106,000 miles (170,000 km) to 39,000 miles (63,000 km) from the icy moon and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 35 degrees. At lower right is the large, multi-ringed impact basin Evander, which is about 220 miles (350 km) wide. The canyons of Padua Chasma, features that form part of Dione’s bright, wispy terrain, reach into the darkness at left. Scientists combined nine visible light images to create this mosaic view: eight from Cassini’s narrow-angle camera and one from the wide-angle camera, which fills in an area at lower left. The scene is an orthographic projection centered on terrain at 0.2 degrees north latitude, 179 degrees west longitude on Dione. An orthographic view is most like the view seen by a distant observer looking through a telescope. North on Dione is up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Stunning Images from Cassini’s Final Close Flyby of Dione

Aug 21, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft returned new images of Saturn’s moon Dione during its flyby of 17 August 2015. The probe zoomed in as close as 295 miles...

This artist’s concept of a young solar system shows gas giants forming first, while the gas nebula is present. Prof Martin Duncan and co-authors used computer simulations to nail down how Jupiter and Saturn evolved in our own Solar System. These calculations show that the cores of gas giants likely formed by gradually accumulating a population of ‘planetary pebbles’ - icy objects about a foot in diameter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Researchers Shed New Light on How Gas Giants Formed in Early Solar System

Aug 20, 2015 by News Staff

In a paper published online today in Nature, an international team of scientists explains how the cores of gas giants formed through the accumulation of...

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