True Saturn. True Saturn Date: 6 Oct 2004 While cruising around Saturn in early October 2004, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into this large global natural color view of Saturn and its rings. This grand mosaic consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering one end of Saturn's rings to the other and the entire planet in between. The images were taken over the course of two hours on 6 Oct. 2004, while Cassini was approximately 6.3 million km (3.9 million miles) from Saturn.
Since the view seen by Cassini during this time changed very little, no re-projection or alteration of any of the images was necessary. Three images (red, green and blue) were taken of each of the 42 locations, or "footprints," across the planet. The smallest features seen here are 38 km (24 miles) across. The sun-Saturn-Cassini, or phase, angle at the time was 72 degrees; hence, the partial illumination of Saturn in this portrait. Saturn. NSSDC Photo Gallery: Saturn. Space Science - Saturn and Titan. Saturn and Titan, side by side Saturn and Titan 5 March 2012 Titan, Saturn’s largest moon at 5150 km across, looks small here, pictured to the right of the gas giant in this infrared image taken by the Cassini spacecraft.
Saturn’s rings appear across the top of the image, casting shadows onto the planet across the middle of the image. A much smaller moon, Prometheus, 86 km across, appears as a tiny white speck above the rings in the far upper right of the image. The shadow cast by Prometheus can be seen as a small black speck on Saturn on the far left of the image, between the shadows cast by the main rings and the thin, faint F ring. The shadow of another moon, Pandora, 100 km at its widest, can be seen below the ring shadows towards the right side of the planet. Cassini’s wide-angle camera captured the view on 5 January, while it was about 685 000 km from Saturn.
Saturn Retrogrades. Magnetosphere of Saturn. Moons of Saturn. Saturn. Saturn's interior is probably composed of a core of iron, nickel and rock (silicon and oxygen compounds), surrounded by a deep layer of metallic hydrogen, an intermediate layer of liquid hydrogen and liquid helium and an outer gaseous layer.[15] The planet exhibits a pale yellow hue due to ammonia crystals in its upper atmosphere.
Electrical current within the metallic hydrogen layer is thought to give rise to Saturn's planetary magnetic field, which is weaker than Earth's magnetic field but has a magnetic moment 580 times that of the Earth due to Saturn's larger body radius. Saturn's magnetic field strength is around one-twentieth the strength of Jupiter's.[16] The outer atmosphere is generally bland and lacking in contrast, although long-lived features can appear.
Wind speeds on Saturn can reach 1,800 km/h (1,100 mph), faster than on Jupiter, but not as fast as those on Neptune.[17] Physical characteristics Composite image roughly comparing the sizes of Saturn and Earth Atmosphere. About Saturn & Its Moons. Introduction On June 30, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around Saturn to begin the first in-depth, up-close study of the ringed planet and its domain. As expected, the Saturn System has provided an incredible wealth of opportunities for exploration and discovery. With its initial four-year tour of the Saturn system complete as well as an initial two-year extended mission called the Cassini Equinox Mission, the spacecraft is conducting a second extended mission called the Cassini Solstice Mission. "We're looking at a string of remarkable discoveries -- about Saturn's magnificent rings, its amazing moons, its dynamic magnetosphere and about Titan's surface and atmosphere," says Dr.
Cassini's observations of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, have given scientists a glimpse of what Earth might have been like before life evolved. The spray of icy particles from the surface jets collectively forms a towering plume three times taller than the width of Enceladus. Science Objectives. Cassini Virtual Tour. Cassini Virtual Tour [Editor's note, March 2011: for expanded development of this project, please see [Editor's note, July 2010: The data that drives the "Mission Mode" of CASSIE was made available through the first days of July 2010. It was deemed cost prohibitive to update, so this page and CASSIE itself remains active as an archive reference until a suitable replacement becomes available.] If this is the first time you've tried CASSIE, when you click on the button below it will automatically download and install the needed software (a free plug-in to your web-browser) and real Cassini mission data.
The initial download is about 9 megabytes so it should only take a minute or two. (If you use a Mac you may need to install the software after it downloads and then restart your web-browser.) When CASSIE appears in your web browser, click on one of the three Modes located in the large tab along the bottom of the screen. Windows and Mac OS only.