Saturn | Universe Today

Reading something like this makes me hopeful that we're no longer in the infant stage of our understanding of our solar system: we've been patient and observant while growing in our knowledge. Scientists have discovered a wave pattern, or oscillation, in Saturn's atmosphere only visible from Earth every 15 years. This discovery was made only because we've been studying Saturn from ground based telescopes for about 22 years. Combined with the Cassini spacecraft's observations of temperature changes in the giant planet's atmosphere over time, we're gaining a better understanding of Saturn and discovering not only how unique it is, but also that Saturn has something in common with Earth. Our own planet has these oscillations too, and so does Jupiter. "You could only make this discovery by observing Saturn over a long period of time," said Glenn Orton, of JPL, lead author of the ground-based study. "It's like putting together 22 years worth of puzzle pieces, collected by a hugely rewarding collaboration of students and scientists from around the world on various telescopes."
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Cassini scientists know for sure their spacecraft isn’t in Kansas anymore. Cassini’s been keeping an eye on a powerful electrical storm that’s been raging on Saturn for five months now, with lightning bolts 10,000 times more powerful than those found on Earth. But Cassini has also been busy flying by moons like Enceladus and Titan during this time, and therefore can’t constantly watch the storm. So amateur astronomers have been assisting the Cassini science team by monitoring this tempest in the “Storm Alley” region of Saturn. It’s no Great Red Spot, but it's the longest lasting electrical storm ever detected in our solar system.
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During a flyby of the small moon on March 12th, the Cassini probe detected significant amounts of organic chemicals as it flew through powerful geyser-like jets of ice blasting into space. This active moon appears to be generating organic chemicals much like the substances found in comets. As Cassini bravely travelled through the plume at a speed of 32,000 mph, it was able to take some indirect measurements of the density of the gas from the surprising amount of torque applied to spacecraft. Fortunately the craft was undamaged as the particles bounced off its bodywork…
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Astronomers have noticed a change on Saturn. The planet's rings are getting thinner and thinner and the details in the dark bands are getting harder to observe. What's more, at this rate, Saturn's rings will have completely vanished by Sept. 4, 2009!

But don't pack up your telescopes quite yet, there's no reason to be alarmed. This phenomenon occurs every 14 to 15 years and the explanation is down to an astronomical optical illusion called "ring plane crossing"…
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The Cassini spacecraft’s audacious flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on March 12 has provided scientists more information about the geyser-like jets of ice shooting from the moon’s southern hemisphere. It also highlighted the drastic geologic differences between the moon’s north and south pole. While the data collected from the geysers is still being analyzed, images from the flyby showed a north polar region that is older and pitted with fractured craters, compared to the relatively newer cracks in south pole area from which water jets are emanating. The spacecraft came within 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the surface at closest approach and 200 kilometers (120 miles) while flying through the plume.
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Mark your calendars, this is going to be an amazing ride. NASA's Cassini spacecraft is going to make a flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wednesday, March 12, 2008. And this time, the spacecraft is going to fly right through the mysterious geysers of water ice blasting out of the moon's Southern pole. At its closest approach, Cassini is going to get within 50 km (30 miles) of the surface. Now that's close!
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Saturn is known for the spectacular rings that circle the planet, and the Cassini spacecraft has been exploring Saturn’s rings, as well as its moons since 2004. And now Cassini has found evidence that there may be rings around one of Saturn’s moons, too: Rhea, the second largest moon in Saturn’s system. This is the first time rings may have been found around a moon. While no images yet have been taken of the rings (the picture here is an artist’s rendering) an extensive debris disk and at least one ring appear to have been detected by a suite of six instruments on Cassini specifically designed to study the atmospheres and particles around Saturn and its moons.
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Even in the smallest telescopes, Saturn's bright rings pop into view. But those might be just the tip of the iceberg. During a recent flyby of the planet, NASA's Cassini spacecraft noticed empty patches where the constant rain of high-energy electrons slowed down. Perhaps there are partial rings there, invisible to the spacecraft's cameras. And where are these rings coming from?
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Yesterday I blogged about how particles jetting from Enceladus find their way to Saturn's A-Ring. Now there's a new report that models how ice and vapour come pouring out of cracks on Enceladus' surface in the first place.
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One of the biggest discoveries made by Cassini is at Saturn's moon Enceladus, where great plumes of icy material were seen spewing from its southern pole. Now scientists think that this material is traveling all the way inward to get trapped into Saturn's A-ring.
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Ever wondered what one of our robotic explorers can see right now? What can Cassini see as it orbits Saturn, continuing to explore the ringed gas giant? Now, in 3D, you can explore the probe yourself, seeing what Cassini sees with a neat 3D interactive viewer, imaging Saturn and her moons, accurately calculating where the probe was, is or will be. The best thing about this little online gadget is that you can speed through time, from the spaceship's point of view, orbiting Saturn and working out when the next moon or ring flyby will be… A cool toy to waste some time playing with, especially when I really should be doing some work…

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Cassini has been orbiting around Saturn for almost four years, and amazingly, the spacecraft keeps discovering new and unexpected features about this world and its system of rings and moons. Recently, in two of Saturn’s rings, Cassini found orderly lines of densely grouped, boulder-size icy particles that extend outward across the rings like ripples from a rock dropped in a calm pond. Surprisingly, the distances between these ring particles stay relatively equal even though their velocities may change. This type of pattern is completely new, as normally, the distances between particles change with their velocity.
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Here's a cool global map of Saturn's moon Iapetus, stitched together from the various Cassini flybys. Cassini didn't see the entire moon, so the imaging team put in photographs from Voyager to cover the missing polar regions.

You can see its distinct equatorial ridge on the left-hand side of the image, and the mottled dark and light patches that give the moon its Yin-Yang look. The image scale is 803 km per pixel.

It's a little old, but check out this video of the most recent Cassini Iapetus flyby back in September 2007.

Original Source: NASA/JPL/SSI News Release

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Cassini keeps on brining us surprises from Saturn and its moons. Recently, it helped us narrow down the length of a day on Saturn. Now, infrared data from the spacecraft confirms a hot, hexagonal cyclone spinning away at the north pole of of the planet.

The south polar hot spot had been previously observed, and was thought to be due to the sunny conditions, as this region of Saturn is currently in summer. Observations from the Cassini spacecraft in early 2007 revealed that Saturn also has a hot cyclone spinning away at the north pole, despite the fact that this region hasn't seen the Sun in over 10 years. Read more…

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If you were on the surface of Saturn, how long would a day last? This has remained a mystery for scientists, because the thick clouds of gas obscure the surface of the planet from direct observation by telescopes or orbiters. Below all those clouds there is a surface that rotates at a constant speed. Since scientists can't directly see the surface, they've taken another approach: listening.
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Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus is a cold and icy place. But somehow, there’s enough heat being generated on Enceladus’ south pole to eject plumes of ice and vapor high above the moon. These plumes are extremely intriguing to the Cassini mission scientists and they want to know more about this hot spot on a very cold moon. In fact, Enceladus has become a major priority for study by the Cassini team and they are anticipating learning more about the moon in an upcoming fly-by.
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Although the Solar System is 4.5 billion years old, planetary scientists thought that Saturn's famous rings formed much later. Maybe as recently as a few hundred million years ago. But new observations from Cassini have pushed those estimate back… way back. Maybe all the way back to the beginning of the Solar System. Saturn's rings might be ancient, with ring material getting recycled for eons.
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We know that delaying this show one more week would be too dangerous, so here you go: Saturn's moons. These are some of the most interesting objects in the Solar System, from the spongy Hyperion, to the geysers on Enceladus, to the rainy, misty, oceany Titan. They've kept Cassini busy for years, and scientists will likely be pondering them for decades.
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Saturn's Moons - Show notes and transcript

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Returning to our tour of the solar system, let's voyage away from the largest planet to the second largest, Saturn. Once again, we'll break up our visit because there's lots to talk about. This week, we talk about Saturn and its famous rings. Next week, we'll discuss its many moons.
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Saturn - Show notes and transcript

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft has now mapped out 60 percent of Titan's north pole region, and it's looking downright aquatic. At least 14% of the region revealed by Cassini is covered in what look like liquid hydrocarbon lakes. Take a look at the photo associated with this story, see the dark black regions? Those are lakes. But not lakes like we see them here on Earth.

The new images were mapped out by Cassini's radar instruments, which can detect the smoothness of the surface of Titan. Extremely smooth sections are thought to be a liquid, while the bumpier regions are solid ground. The largest sea discovered so far has a surface area of 100,000 square kilometres (40,000 square miles), bigger than Lake Superior here on Earth.

Planetary scientists think the seas are filled with liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen. So far, more than 400 separate bodies of liquid have been discovered.

Original Source: NASA/JPL/SSI News Release

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Saturn's moon Enceladus is one of the most peculiar objects in the Solar System. We now know there are geysers of water ice blasting from its southern pole; a place marked with long gashes that researchers have dubbed "tiger stripes". Ever since the geysers were first discovered, scientists have been puzzling out their source. Now they understand how the geysers and tiger stripes are linked.
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Saturn's moon Iapetus is one of the most mysterious objects in the Solar System. It's shaped like a football, has a strange ridge that runs along most of its equator, and it's got vastly different hemispheres. One side is as white as driven snow, and the other side is dark as tar. Scientists think they've at least got an answer for this last mystery.
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We asked, and Cassini delivered; amazing, intriguing images of the surface of Saturn's moon Iapetus. The spacecraft completed its latest flyby on September 10th, 2007, skimming just 1,640 km above the moon's surface. Scientists will be digesting the photographs for years.
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As I mentioned a few days ago, I'm incredibly excited about Cassini's recently flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus. Passing only 1,200 km (800 miles) above the surface of the bizarre moon, the spacecraft has captured dozens of new images. Perhaps now planetary geologists can figure out what's caused that amazing ridge, the walnut shape, and the bizarre light and dark hemispheres.

The moment the new Cassini images came in, Emily Lakdawalla from the Planetary Society jumped on them, and started analyzing. She was able to stitch together several images into a large mosaic that just looks amazing. Especially that ridge. What is up with that ridge?

There are some original raw images available from the flyby from NASA, but I highly recommend you check out Emily's analysis while we wait for NASA's official results.

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NASA's Cassini spacecraft is going to make one of its most important flybys of its entire mission this week, zipping past Saturn's moon Iapetus on September 10th, 2007. I'm calling it "most important", not NASA, but trust me, this is a big one. I've got two reasons for this: it's the first time Cassini will get this close to Iapetus, and this moon is one of the strangest objects in the Solar System, with a whole collection of bizarre features.
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