Saturn News

Saturn has been known since prehistoric times. Galileo was the first to observe it with a telescope in 1610; he noted its odd appearance but was confused by it. Early observations of Saturn were complicated by the fact that the Earth passes through the plane of Saturn's rings every few years as Saturn moves in its orbit. A low resolution image of Saturn therefore changes drastically. It was not until 1659 that Christiaan Huygens correctly inferred the geometry of the rings. Saturn's rings remained unique in the known solar system until 1977 when very faint rings were discovered around Uranus (and shortly thereafter around Jupiter and Neptune).

Saturn was first visited by NASA's Pioneer 11 in 1979 and later by a class=link href="voyager-marks-30-years-of-flight.txt">Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Cassini (a joint NASA / ESA project) arrived on July 1, 2004 and will orbit Saturn for at least four years.

Saturn is the least dense of the planets; its specific gravity (0.7) is less than that of water.

Like Jupiter, Saturn is about 75% hydrogen and 25% helium with traces of water, methane, ammonia and "rock", similar to the composition of the primordial Solar Nebula from which the solar system was formed.

Saturn has a prominent system of rings, consisting mostly of ice particles with a smaller amount of rocky debris and dust. Sixty known moons orbit the planet. Titan, Saturn's largest and the Solar System's second largest moon (after Jupiter's Ganymede), is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the Solar System to possess a significant atmosphere.

The combined NASA/ESA Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn and Titan arrived in orbit around Saturn in 2004 and will continue feeding back data until at least 2008. NASA is responsible for the Cassini Saturn Orbiter while the ESA built the Huygens lander that touched down on Titan in January 2005.

Current Saturn News

Cassini Sees the Two Faces of Titan's Dunes 23 Jan 2012 at 12:01pm  A new analysis of radar data reveals patterns tied to altitude and latitude. Read more... Cassini Testing Part of Its Radio System 12 Jan 2012 at 12:01pm  The spacecraft has been communicating with Earth using an auxiliary oscillator. Read more... NASA's Cassini Delivers Holiday Treats From Saturn 22 Dec 2011 at 12:12pm  No team of reindeer, but radio signals flying clear across the solar system from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have delivered a holiday package of glorious images. Read more... Portraits of Moons Captured by Cassini 12 Dec 2011 at 12:12pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft finishes close flyby of the Saturnian moon Dione on the way to Titan. Read more... Cassini to Make a Double Play 9 Dec 2011 at 12:12pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be collecting images and data during close flybys of Saturn's moons Dione and Titan. Read more... What's That Sparkle in Cassini's Eye? 1 Dec 2011 at 12:12pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft obtains the first-ever synthetic aperture radar images of Saturn's moon Enceladus Read more... Cassini Chronicles Life of Saturn's Giant Storm 16 Nov 2011 at 12:11pm  New images and animated movies from NASA's Cassini spacecraft chronicle the birth and evolution of the colossal storm that ravaged the northern face of Saturn for nearly a year. Read more... Cassini Flyby Focuses on Saturn's Moon Enceladus 7 Nov 2011 at 12:11pm  Saturn's moon Enceladus shows its icy face and famous plumes in raw, unprocessed images captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its successful flyby on Nov. 6, 2011. Read more... NASA's Cassini Makes a New Pass at Enceladus 3 Nov 2011 at 12:11pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft will acquire the first detailed radar images of Saturn's moon Enceladus during a flyby on Sunday, Nov. 6. Read more... 'Mysteries' Slideshow Highlights Spooky Side of Space 31 Oct 2011 at 12:10pm  A disappearing Martian 'bunny,' the Saturn 'hex' and Jupiter's scar face are all featured in an all-new, mysterious slideshow from JPL's Education Office. Read more...

Saturn and Mission Resources

Explore the Saturn System with Cassini-Huygens The Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe are now exploring the magnificent and mysterious planet Saturn, its emblematic rings and its extended family of at least 33 moons. Together they comprise the most complex and ambitious mission ever sent to another world. There is no doubt that, over the next several years, we will be continually surprised, dumbfounded and delighted with the discoveries they will radio back to us on Earth. Enthusiast compositions of the Huygens images While ESA slowly releases images from Huygens, full collections of Huygens imagery have already been processed and refined well beyond anything ESA has done - and you can download them yourself. Target Titan Discovery Channel resource covering different aspects of the Huygens mission. ESOC Virtual Tour Pay a virtual visit to ESA's Spacecraft Operations Centre. Music2Titan Four pieces of music accompanied the Huygens probe. The main goal of this website is that these pieces of music will arouse the interest of the general public about this adventure and leave a trace of humankind in the unknown. Titan Imagery Raw images from Saturn's moon. The Planetary Society's Huygens Weblog: Bringing you Huygens Mission Events As They Happen! The HASI-PWA team on Huygens has given The Planetary access to the data from their "microphone, " so that we could make some "Sounds from Titan, " with a little help from Society friend Greg Delory at Berkeley. Like the pictures I can't tell what they mean yet, but I think I can hear the whoosh of Huygens' descent! Huygens probe at Titan On this page, highlights of the ESA TV programme will be available shortly after each segment, as downloads in Windows Media Player and QuickTime. ESA Cassini-Huygens Mission Home Page The European Space Agency's home page for the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. Conatins news, images and animations. NASA Cassini-Huygens Mission Home Page NASA's home page for the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. Cassini Huygens- VideoTalk Archive VideoTalk is an exciting multimedia feature that discusses the questions we hope will be answered by pioneering space exploration. What will the Huygens probe find at the surface of Titan? How did the chemistry of the Universe make life on Earth possible? VideoTalk looks at the Cassini-Huygens voyage of discovery to a distant and intriguing moon. Destination: Titan Titan, Saturn's largest moon, truly deserves its name. Larger than the planet Mercury, it has a dense atmosphere filled with photochemical smog that shrouds the moon's surface in mystery. What lies beneath? The only way to be sure is to send a probe through the clouds. The Cassini craft has taken seven years to carry the Huygens probe to Titan. News@nature.com watches as its moment in the spotlight draws near. Cassini-Huygens - From Wikipedia Comprehensive resource on the ongoing mission and the various experiments that will be carried out. CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations Various images from Cassini with commentaries. Saturn Observation Campaign This program gives sky enthusiasts of all abilities the opportunity to share the splendor of Saturn with their local community. Christiaan Huygens Some background information on the man after whom the Titan probe is named. Giovanni Domenico Cassini Some background information on the man after whom the Saturn probe is named. Saturn Detailed information on the sixth planet from the Sun from SolarViews. Saturn Detailed information on the sixth planet from the Sun from NinePlanets. Saturn Detailed information on the sixth planet from the Sun from Wikpedia.