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

Video reveals Titanic's condition 1 Sep 2010 at 5:58am  New pictures have emerged of the shipwreck of the Titanic, almost 25 years since it was first discovered. Read more... NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Two Planets Transiting Same Star 26 Aug 2010 at 12:08pm  NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet crossing in front of, or transiting, the same star. Read more... Astronomers find 2 large planets, plus possible super-Earth-size one 25 Aug 2010 at 9:00pm  (University of Florida) A team of three University of Florida astronomers contributed to the Kepler spacecraft's discovery of two Saturn-sized planets, plus a possible third planet with a radius just one-and-a-half times that of Earth, orbiting a distant star. Read more... Oil and gas exploration benefit from space tech 17 Aug 2010 at 4:00pm  A special kind of titanium and a manufacturing technique used to build the Ariane 5 rocket could become the next successful spin-offs from Europe?s space programme, benefiting the oil and gas industry. .myLink { text-decoration:none; color:#0000ff } .myLink:hover {color:#0000dd } Read more... Move Over Caravaggio: Cassini's Light and Dark Moons 16 Aug 2010 at 12:08pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft has returned Saturnian moon images from its flyby late last week, revealing light and dark contrasts worthy of chiaroscuro painters like Caravaggio. Read more... Cassini Bags Enceladus 'Tigers' 14 Aug 2010 at 12:08pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft has successfully completed its flyby over the "tiger stripes" in the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus and returned intriguing images. Read more... Raisin' Mountains on Saturn's Moon Titan 12 Aug 2010 at 12:08pm  Saturn's moon Titan ripples with mountains, and scientists have been trying to figure out how they form. Read more... Cassini Hunting Enceladus 'Tigers' with Night Vision 12 Aug 2010 at 12:08pm  NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be hunting for heat signatures at the "tiger stripes" in the dim south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Friday, Aug. 13. Read more... Blowing in the Wind: Cassini Helps with Dune Whodunit 29 Jul 2010 at 12:07pm  The answer to the mystery of dune patterns on Saturn's moon Titan did turn out to be blowing in the wind. Read more... Cassini Sees Moon Building Giant Snowballs in Saturn Ring 20 Jul 2010 at 12:07pm  While orbiting Saturn for the last six years, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has kept a close eye on the collisions and disturbances in the gas giant's rings. 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.