Tag Archive for 'Saturn'

An illustration of Saturn and its ‘fuzzy’ core. Image credit: R. Hurt, IPAC / Caltech.

Saturn Has Diffuse, Stably Stratified Core, New Study Says

Aug 16, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on ripples in Saturn’s rings have revealed new information about the gas giant’s mysterious...

Dragonfly was officially selected for flight by NASA as the fourth New Frontiers mission on 2019 June 27. Launch is planned for 2027, with Titan arrival in the mid-2030s, during the local northern hemisphere winter. Image credit: NASA.

NASA’s Dragonfly Mission to Saturn’s Moon Titan Has Big Science Goals

Aug 11, 2021 by News Staff

NASA’s Dragonfly mission will send a rotorcraft lander to the surface of Titan in the mid-2030s. Dragonfly was officially selected for flight by NASA...

Enceladus’ tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon’s icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon’s south pole and creating Saturn’s mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. Tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL / SSI / Cassini Imaging Team.

New Modeling Study Points toward Biological Origin of Enceladus’ Methane

Jul 7, 2021 by News Staff

Observations from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft established that Enceladus, the sixth-largest of Saturn’s moons, has a global subsurface ocean. An analysis...

An artist’s impression of the ultra-short-period sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-1634b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Helium Rain is Possible inside Jovian Planets, New Experiments Suggest

May 27, 2021 by News Staff

Jupiter, Saturn and numerous giant exoplanets discovered to date consist mostly of hydrogen and helium. In 1977, planetary scientists predicted the existence...

Saturn’s interior with a stably stratified helium insoluble layer (HIL). Image credit: Yi Zheng, HEMI / MICA Extreme Arts Program.

Helium Rain Layer Influences Unique Magnetic Field of Saturn, Study Suggests

May 6, 2021 by News Staff

Detailed measurements from the Grand Finale phase of NASA’s Cassini mission revealed distinctive features of Saturn’s magnetic field. These features...

Subsurface Ocean of Enceladus Has Currents, New Theory Suggests

Mar 26, 2021 by News Staff

A novel theory proposed by planetary scientists from Caltech and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenges the current thinking that the saltwater...

Hubble images of Saturn taken in 2018, 2019, and 2020 as the planet’s northern hemisphere summer transitions to fall. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / A. Simon / R. Roth.

Hubble Sees Midsummer Atmospheric Changes in Northern Hemisphere of Saturn

Mar 19, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed Saturn, the second largest planet in our Solar System, in 2018, 2019, and 2020, just after...

Computer model of the Antikythera Mechanism’s display: in the center, the dome of the Earth, the phase of the Moon and its position in the Zodiac -- then rings for Mercury, Venus, true Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Date, with ‘little sphere’ markers and smaller markers for oppositions. Scale marks and index letters for the synodic cycles of the planets are inscribed on the planet rings. Surrounding these, the Zodiac and the Egyptian Calendar. The true Sun ring has a ‘little golden sphere’ with ‘pointer.’ When the Moon and Sun pointers coincide, the Moon sphere shows black for New Moon; when the pointers are on opposite sides, the Moon sphere shows white for Full Moon. The Head of the Dragon Hand shows the ascending lunar node; the Tail the descending node. Small triangles on the true Sun ring, near the pointer, show wider and narrower eclipse limits. Eclipses are possible if the Dragon Hand is within these limits. When the Moon pointer is before the Head of the Dragon, the Moon is South of the node; after, it is North of the node -- conversely for the descending node. A Date pointer is attached to a narrow date ring, showing the date in the Egyptian Calendar. Image credit: Freeth et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w.

Scientists Step Closer to Understanding Full Capabilities of Antikythera Mechanism

Mar 15, 2021 by News Staff

A team of researchers from University College London and the Cyprus Institute’s Science and Technology in Archaeology and Culture Research Center has...

An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, a large liquid methane sea on Titan. Image credit: NASA’s John Glenn Research Center.

Titan’s Largest Methane Sea is Over 100 Meters Deep

Jan 21, 2021 by News Staff

Kraken Mare, a sea of liquid methane on Saturn’s moon Titan, is at least 100-m (330 feet) deep near its center, according to an analysis of data collected...

Enceladus’ Subsurface Ocean Has Various Energy Sources for Microbial Life, Study Suggests

Dec 17, 2020 by News Staff

In a study published this month in the journal Icarus, planetary researchers from the United States and Germany modeled chemical processes in the subsurface...

Jupiter and Saturn have been traveling across the sky together all year, but in December, get ready for them to really put on a show. Over the first three weeks of the month, watch each evening as the two planets get closer in the sky than they’ve appeared in two decades. Look for them low in the southwest in the hour after sunset, Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Jupiter and Saturn Will Form ‘Double Planet’ for First Time since Middle Ages

Dec 8, 2020 by News Staff

On December 21, 2020, the Solar System’s two gas giants will appear closer together in Earth’s night sky than they have been since 1226 CE. Jupiter...

This colorized radar image, taken by NASA’s Cassini orbiter on February 15, 2005, shows a 60-km (37-mile) wide crater on Titan. The appearance of the crater and the extremely bright (hence rough) blanket of material surrounding it is indicative of an origin by impact, in which a hypervelocity comet or asteroid, in this case, roughly 5-10 km (3-6 miles) in size, slammed into the surface of the moon. The bright surrounding blanket is debris, or ejecta, thrown out of the crater. The asymmetric appearance of this ejecta blanket could be an effect of atmospheric winds associated with the impact itself. Although clearly formed by impact, the feature lacks a central peak, suggesting that it has been eroded or otherwise modified after formation. Rainfall, wind erosion, and softening of the solid material in which the crater formed are all possible processes that might have altered this impact feature. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASI.

Cassini Finds Organics and Water Ice in Titan’s Impact Craters

Nov 6, 2020 by News Staff

Using the spectral data collected by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, a team of researchers has...

A false-color view of Titan, a moon of Saturn surrounded by a thick orange haze. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / University of Idaho.

Cyclopropenylidene Detected in Atmosphere of Titan

Oct 28, 2020 by News Staff

Using high sensitivity spectroscopic observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected a small cyclic...

In these detailed infrared images of Enceladus, reddish areas indicate fresh ice that has been deposited on the surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / LPG / CNRS / University of Nantes / Space Science Instituto.

Cassini Finds Fresh Ice in Northern Hemisphere of Enceladus

Sep 21, 2020 by News Staff

Spectral data gathered by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) onboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provide strong evidence that the northern...

Hubble captured this image of Saturn and its rings on July 4, 2020. Two of Saturn’s icy moons are clearly visible in this image: Mimas (right) and Enceladus (bottom). Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / OPAL Team.

Hubble Delivers Incredible New Image of Saturn

Jul 23, 2020 by News Staff

NASA has released a stunning image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of Saturn and its ring system. Hubble captured this image of Saturn...

This mosaic of Saturn and its largest moon Titan combines six images -- two each of red, green and blue spectral filters -- to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with Cassini’s wide-angle camera on May 6, 2012, at a distance of approximately 778,000 km (483,000 miles) from Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Titan Migrates Away from Saturn Faster than Previously Thought

Jun 9, 2020 by News Staff

Saturn is orbited by 82 moons, and tidal friction within the giant planet causes the moons to migrate outwards. In a study published this week in the journal...

Composite of a true color image of Saturn, observed by Cassini in 2016, overlaid with a false color representation of the ultraviolet aurora in the northern hemisphere as observed on August 20, 2017. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute / A. Bader, Lancaster University.

Pole-to-Pole Map of Saturn’s Thermosphere Reveals Likely Reason Why It’s So Hot

Apr 8, 2020 by News Staff

A team of planetary researchers from the United States and the United Kingdom has created a 2D map of densities and temperatures in Saturn’s thermosphere...

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cosmic Rays from beyond Solar System Affect Atmosphere of Titan

Feb 14, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of Japanese researchers has found that Galactic cosmic rays affect the...

$Cassini captured this image of Enceladus as it neared the moon for its closest-ever dive past the moon’s active south polar region. The image was taken in visible light with the spacecraft’s narrow-angle camera on October 28, 2015. The image shows heavily cratered northern latitudes at top, transitioning to fractured, wrinkled terrain in the middle and southern latitudes. The wavy boundary of the moon's active south polar region is visible at bottom, where it disappears into wintry darkness. This view looks towards the Saturn-facing side of Enceladus. The image was taken at a distance of approximately 60,000 miles (96,000 km) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 45 degrees. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.$

Geochemical Model Reveals Inner Complexity of Enceladus

Jan 23, 2020 by News Staff

Enceladus, an ocean-harboring moon of Saturn, erupts a plume that contains gases and frozen sea spray into space. By understanding the composition of the...

Cassini Reveals Saturn’s Ultraviolet Auroras in Unprecedented Detail

Jan 15, 2020 by News Staff

At the end of its mission in 2017, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft performed a set of ‘Grand Finale’ orbits bringing it closer to Saturn than ever before....

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