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The more we look at them, the more intriguing they are.
It's one of the most Earth-like places in our solar system... except it's nothing like the Earth.
Mimas just became a much more interesting moon.
Scientists suggest Titan's 'magic islands' are floating chunks of porous, frozen organic solids.
Jupiter has one-upped Saturn for now.
A collision with a former moon could explain Saturn's most iconic features.
The answer to Jupiter's ring problem lies in its moons.
Until we can put a person on Saturn to check, we can't confirm these findings.
Who doesn't get tilted every now and then, eh?
We don’t know exactly how deep because our radar couldn't pierce through all of it.
They're big
These findings will have unprecedented implications for the next space mission to Titan.
If having most moons was a race, Saturn just took an unexpected lead.
Can I have weekdays in Saturn-days and weekends in Earth-days?
If dinosaurs had telescopes, they might have seen a lonely Saturn, without rings.
If you like it then you should have kept the rings on it.
The findings raise some interesting questions about these beautiful structures.
Looking sharp, Titan!
This small moon has huge potential.
A story of "crash boom bang" around Saturn, with a pasta topping.
After 11 years in space, this marvelous shot of the ringed planet was taken
The findings could have important consequences for the prospect of finding alien life there.
The spacecraft's legacy lives on.
An eerily view of Saturn.
We had a good run!
An overview of some of the most important natural satellites in our solar system. They're quite a few.
Eye candy!
The Cassini spacecraft, which has already had a helluva ride, is preparing for an exciting stage: studying Saturn's rings.
The sub will be used to explore Titan's oceans.
NASA's ever-resourceful Cassini probe found steep-sided canyons on Saturn's moon Titan.
A few years ago, the Cassini spacecraft made a surprising discovery: there are geysers erupting on Saturn’s moon Enceladus, spewing water and ice to great heights. However, the process which causes these geysers remained unknown or controversial. Now, scientists at the University of Chicago and Princeton University have pinpointed a mechanism through which Saturn’s tidal forces […]
Learn more about how they formed billions of year ago.
NASA's Cassini probe recently observed mysterious, huge amounts of plasma on the fringes of Saturn's magnetic field; surprisingly, they were shooting hundreds of thousands of kilometers inward.
Saturn's moon, Enceladus, is covered in a thick icy crust, but beneath it might lie an ocean of liquid water despite there are minus 201 degrees Celsius on the surface. This is a theoretical assumption, which is however backed by very solid indirect evidence. Gushing plums of water from the moon's south pole also point to this conclusion. If this is true, Enceladus can be envisioned like a gourmet candy: a hot core (maybe chocolate?), surrounded by a layer or water, and all covered in a crunchy crust of ice.
Gas giants like Saturn or Jupiter may have formed not from a planetary core, but rather from tiny pebbles that stuck together. This theory would solve one of the biggest problems about our understanding of planetary formation: the timeline. The previous model was called core accretion: you have a planetary core of rock and ice that […]
The Cassini shuttle, that has been in Saturn’s orbit since 2004, took some spectacular images of the rather elusive moon, along with geophysical measurements. A crater-riddled, icy landscape covers Saturn’s moon Dione, but that doesn’t take away anything from its charm. Though it’s nowhere near as famous as some of Saturn’s other moons – especially Titan – […]
Scientists analyzing data from the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory in Arizona spotted a huge lava lake on Io, one of Jupiter’s largest moons. We’ve known for a while that Io is quite an amazing (and hellish) place; it’s the most geologically active place in the solar system, with extreme geologic activity occurring as a result of tidal […]
At this years' Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium, NASA's Glenn COMPASS Team discussed at large the possibility of exploring Titan, Saturn's largest moon, with a robotic submarine that would dive deep inside the oceans of liquefied natural gas. Such a mission, if ever funded, could help answer some important questions like what are the defining chemical building blocks required to birth and sustain life. Titan is very similar to Earth in terms of cycling systems, elemental composition and terrestrial geography, so there's much insight to be gained.
New experimental research found that Saturn’s largest Moon, Titan, has much stronger winds than previously believed. These rogue winds actually shape the hydrocarbon dunes observed on its surface. Titan is, along with Earth, one of the few places in the solar system known to have fields of wind-blown dunes on its surface. The only other ones […]
The enduring Cassini spacecraft returns with new insight into the hydrocarbon seas from Saturn’s moon Titan. The latest findings were reported after the spacecraft’s most recent flyby above Titan’s northern hemisphere on August 21, where it performed observations of the largest liquid methane/ethane sea, the 400,000 square kilometre Kraken Mare. The Cassini astronomers were looking to probe […]
Saturn’s Moon Titan is a remarkable place; it’s the only place aside for the Earth which has liquids on its surface – albeit, the liquid isn’t water, but rather hydrocarbons: methane and ethane. Titan is too cold to have liquid water on its surface, but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft […]
Astronomers have discovered a previously unspotted geological feature on Saturn’s moon, Titan. Pictures taken by the Cassini probe revealed a transient geological feature – a “magic island”. Now you see it, now you don’t The bright, mysterious object was seen in Ligeia Mare, the second-largest sea on Saturn’s moon Titan. But Cassini took pictures of […]
Earth is not the only place in the solar system to hold watery oceans: Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons also holds a liquid ocean, albeit one that is covered by ice. However, Enceladus is still an extremely exciting place to find extraterrestrial life – not only because of the water it holds, but because water […]
If you were to look at them from the safety and serenity of your home, the gas giants of our solar system seem to be quite peaceful. Their surface appears smooth, unscathed by meteor impacts or other such phenomena – but this couldn’t be further from the truth, as they sometimes show us. In 2010, […]
That faint blue dot at the center of this beautiful composition is none other than our very own blue marble – planet Earth. The opaque giant surrounded by the countless colored rings in the foreground is, as most of you have already guessed, Saturn. Step back, take a moment to reflect over this picture and […]
New observations have tracked the “rain” of charged water particles over Saturn spewing from its rings with unprecedented detail. The findings show that the rain is dispersed across a larger surface of the planet than previously thought, which might explain some peculiar meteorologic phenomenae. The study concludes that due to erosion, Saturn’s icy rings discharge […]
I’m an absolute fan of the Cassini spacecraft – this is hands down my favorite mission. I mean, it’s been providing us incredibly valuable information for years now, in a very interesting area of our solar system, the Jupiter-Saturn area. This mission is one of the main reasons why we now believe places like Europa […]
During a chance encounter with an unusually strong blast of solar wind at Saturn, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft detected particles being accelerated to ultra-high energies (like those at the LHC); this acceleration is similar to that which takes place around distant supernovas and provides a valuable in-situ study environment. The Cassini spacecraft is an absolutely stunning […]
Iapetus is the third largest moon of Saturn, with a radius of about 42% that of our moon, and a mass that weighs up to only 2.5%. But Iapetus has a number of shocking features, unique throughout the entire solar system. The Walnut Moon This is the equatorial ridge that runs along the center of […]
Seems like Saturn and its moons make up for a veritable gamer’s paradise after infrared imaging of the moon’s Tethys surface revealed a pattern that bears an uncanny resemblance to the 1980s video arcade emblem. Actually, this is the second time the Pacman feature has been spotted in the Saturn system, which suggests Saturn and its […]
