An artist’s impression of the super-Earth HD 85512 b
Astronomers in Europe have discovered 50 new planets beyond our solar system, including 16 which are a similar size to Earth.
The Night Side of Saturn
Saturn is sensational from the other side too,
This image was selected as the Astronomy Picture of the Day last weekend. It was taken by the Cassini probe in 2006 from the shadow of Saturn…
The Earth has a ring
Of anti-protons! While it’s not as visually cool as what Saturn has going for it, this is still an important development, even if we can’t technically “see” the ring with our primitive Earthling eyes…
Breathtaking Saturn Cassini Video
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA9iIqIAUT4[/youtube]
The Cassini spacecraft reached Saturn in 2004, sending the clearest images of the most striking planet in the Solar System. Working at home, Stephen Van Vuuren used those photos to create the most hypnotizing space film I’ve seen. There is no CGI and no 3D models in these images. Just images from NASA. Jump to 0:56 for the final result of his work, so far.
Saturn Is on a Cosmic Dimmer Switch
Like a cosmic light bulb on a dimmer switch
Saturn emitted gradually less energy each year from 2005 to 2009, according to observations by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. But unlike an ordinary bulb, Saturn’s southern hemisphere consistently emitted more energy than its northern one.
Saturn Rings Oscillate Like Mini Milky Way
Perhaps it is the wrong “Milky Way”… but hey, I was hungry
Scientists believe they finally understand why one of the most dynamic regions in Saturn’s rings has such an irregular and varying shape, thanks to images captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. And the answer, published online in The Astronomical Journal, is this: The rings are behaving like a miniature version of our own Milky Way galaxy.
Continue reading… “Saturn Rings Oscillate Like Mini Milky Way”
NASA Caught Photoshopping an Image of Saturn’s Moons
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Official image of Dione and Titan
A conspiracy theorist noticed that an image in NASA’s Astronomy Picture Of The Day had noticeable Photoshop brushstrokes in it, when you turned up the contrast. Is there a mysterious object hiding near Saturn’s moons?
Continue reading… “NASA Caught Photoshopping an Image of Saturn’s Moons”
Cassini Shows Saturnian Roller Derby, Strange Weather
This natural color view from the Cassini spacecraft highlights the myriad gradations in the transparency of Saturn’s inner rings.
From our vantage point on Earth, Saturn may look like a peaceful orb with rings worthy of a carefully raked Zen garden, but NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been shadowing the gas giant long enough to see that the rings are a rough and tumble roller derby. It has also revealed that the planet itself roils with strange weather and shifting patterns of charged particles. Two review papers to be published in the March 19 issue of the journal Science synthesize Cassini’s findings since arriving at Saturn in 2004.
Continue reading… “Cassini Shows Saturnian Roller Derby, Strange Weather”
Saturn’s Aurora Offer Stunning Double Show
An enormous and grand ringed planet, Saturn is certainly one of the most intriguing bodies orbiting the sun.
An enormous and grand ringed planet, Saturn is certainly one of the most intriguing bodies orbiting the Sun. Hubble has now taken a fresh look at the fluttering aurorae that light up both of Saturn’s poles.
Continue reading… “Saturn’s Aurora Offer Stunning Double Show”
Fog Discovered on Saturn’s Largest Moon, Titan
Fingers of fog can be seen moving across the south pole of Titan in this image constructed by Mike Brown and his colleagues using data from the Cassini spacecraft.
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, looks to be the only place in the solar system — aside from our home planet, Earth — with copious quantities of liquid (largely, liquid methane and ethane) sitting on its surface. According to planetary astronomer Mike Brown of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Earth and Titan share yet another feature, which is inextricably linked with that surface liquid: common fog.
Continue reading… “Fog Discovered on Saturn’s Largest Moon, Titan”
Icy Moons of Saturn and Jupiter May Have Conditions Needed for Life
This image captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows jets of ice particles, water vapor, and trace organic compounds shooting from the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus.
Scientists once thought that life could originate only within a solar system’s “habitable zone,” where a planet would be neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on its surface. But according to planetary scientist Francis Nimmo, evidence from recent NASA missions suggests that conditions necessary for life may exist on the icy satellites of Saturn and Jupiter.
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Scientists Explain Puzzling Lake Asymmetry on Saturn’s Moon Titan
This image shows the northern and southern hemispheres of Titan, showing the disparity between the abundance of lakes in the north and their paucity in the South.
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) suggest that the eccentricity of Saturn’s orbit around the sun may be responsible for the unusually uneven distribution of methane and ethane lakes over the northern and southern polar regions of the planet’s largest moon, Titan. On Earth, similar “astronomical forcing” of climate drives ice-age cycles.
Continue reading… “Scientists Explain Puzzling Lake Asymmetry on Saturn’s Moon Titan”