Saturn

How NASA Might Use A Robotic Sub To Explore Titan’s Methane Seas

At a recent advanced concepts symposium, NASA scientists unveiled a conceptual plan to explore the frigid methane and ethane seas on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, using a robotic submarine. The details were presented at the 2015 NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Titan is an intriguing destination for exploration owing…

Here’s What It Looks Like To Fall To Titan From Space

In honor of the Huygens probe’s historic 2005 landing on the surface of Titan (Saturn’s largest satellite, and the only moon in our solar system with a dense atmosphere), NASA has released a movie that recreates, with data collected by Huygens and the Cassini orbiter, a dramatic approach of the moon’s surface from deep space.…

We’ve Been Wrong About Saturn’s Exact Location For Centuries

Looking at a map of our solar system, you might have felt comfortable saying that we know (and have known for sometime) exactly where Saturn is. But a brand new ultra-precise measure that tracks the location of the planet to its exact pinpoint in space shows that we’ve been off, by perhaps up to 100…

The mysterious eye of the cosmos is watching you

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Dayis back with a winner: Saturn’s crescent phase captured by Cassini with its rings and the moon Rhea. It looks like a menacing eye from a colossal evil being from another dimension opening in the darkness of space, watching all of us. There’s an amazing movie too: SPLOID is delicious…

Two-mile-high structures rising on Saturn’s rings

Someone on Reddit posted this old November 2010 image by the Cassini spacecraft. It shows 2-mile-high (3.5-kilometer) structures rising on Saturn’s B ring’s outer edge. We talked about this back then, but it’s a great peg to show this cool artist impression of what it would look like from the ring itself: Another finding from…

Two Of Saturn’s Moons Play Hide-And-Seek In This Stunning Image

Ever get the feeling that someone is staring over your shoulder? The Cassini spacecraft captured this rare view of Saturn’s moon Tethys peeking out from behind its sibling, Rhea. Tethys appears brighter because its surface is covered in ice, which gives it a higher albedo, or reflectivity. Scientists believe that water ice jets emerging from…

Impressive new image of Saturn from above the ecliptic plane

Our friend Val Klavans sent me a Christmas present this morning: A color photo of Saturn as you would have seen it if you were riding the spacecraft Cassini on December 21, 2014. Saturn’s north polar hexagon stands out prominently while the rings encircle the planet. You can see the hexagon storm on its north…

A Striking View Of The Dark Side Of Saturn

The Cassini Orbiter captures a different view of Saturn, in which the planet and its rings seem to vanish into darkness. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab explains exactly what we’re seeing here: Saturn’s main rings, seen here on their “lit” face, appear much darker than normal. That’s because they tend to scatter light back toward its…

One Reason To Be Optimistic About The Near Future Of Space Exploration

In the early ’80s, Voyager did a flyby of Saturn’s moons and sent us back some tantalizing, but garbled, photos. Now, those same pictures are giving us one really great reason to feel pretty good about just what we might be able see in the next few decades. Top image: Enceladus Mapped, NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar…

Saturn’s Moons As You’ve Never Seen Them

What you’re seeing here is an image of Saturn’s moon Dione as it passes in front of the moon Titan. The detail is breathtaking, and you can just see the haze of Titan’s atmosphere glowing around the curve of the lake-covered moon. This Cassini spacecraft image was calibrated by Gordon Ugarkovic, who offers this information…

Why Orion’s launch is the best news for humanity in a long time

I have always been sad that I never got to see the beginning of humanity’s ultimate journey—and even sadder to realize that in 1972 we abandoned a path that could have possibly gotten us to other planets by now. On December 5, 2014, we opened the gate to that path again. We should rejoice—we are…

We Can Thank Saturn for Helping Life to Evolve on Earth

Models show that if the ringed planet’s orbit was just 10% closer in, or even just slightly tilted, its mass would have tugged the Earth into a wildly elongated orbit, causing it to spend part of each year outside the habitable zone. But it’s yet another factor that could explain the apparent dearth of life…

Stunning New Image Shows Saturn And Titan Shrouded In Darkness

In stark contrast to the brilliant colors of Saturn’s rings and the sunlit hydrocarbon seas of Titan, this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft makes them appear as menacing alien worlds. To us, they seem devoid of detail. But to the trained eyes of scientists, such images reveal crucial insights. High-phase observations — generally taken…

Crescent Saturn and its crescent moon. This has to be one of the most beautiful pairs of heavenly bodies we’re lucky to see, thanks to the Cassini spacecraft. In this photo, Titan’s crescent nearly encircles its disk due to the small haze particles high in its atmosphere, scattering the incoming light of the distant Sun.…

Saturn’s two largest moon—Rhea and Titan—line up for the Cassini orbiter. Rhea’s pock-marked surface provides a beautiful contrast to the golden glow of Titan—though they’re both actually made up of largely similar material. [ESA]

A Stunning View Of Sunlit Seas On Titan

As NASA’s Cassini spacecraft soared past Saturn’s moon Titan, it recently caught a glimpse of bright sunlight reflecting off hydrocarbon seas. In the past, Cassini had captured, separately, views of the polar seas and the sun glinting off them, but this is the first time both have been seen together in the same view. [Image:…

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft catches a glimpse of bright sunlight reflecting off the hydrocarbon seas of Saturn’s large moon Titan. [NASA]

Does Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ Moon Harbor A Hidden Ocean?

It’s not the prettiest thing in the solar system, nor is it the most interesting. But Mimas — a pockmarked moon in orbit around Saturn — does exhibit a rather strange wobble. A team of astronomers say there can only be one of two explanations: either it’s harbouring a subterranean ocean or it has an…

One of Saturn’s Moons Could Have a Subterranean Sea

NASA scientists have been taking a closer look at Saturn’s moon Mimas thanks to Cassini’s roving eyes, and they’ve made an interesting discovery: it could have an ocean of water beneath its surface. The researchers have noticed that the moon has a more pronounced wobble than they thought as it orbits Saturn. Comparing the observed…

Saturn moon looks like a wasp nest and it may freak some people out

Check out this stunningly crispy photo of Saturn moon’s Hyperion—taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Apparently it is inhabited by alien wasps the size of cars or at least it looks like a wasp nest to me. So gross!* New analysis of Cassini’s data reveal that, if there are giant alien wasps, they are producing electrons.…