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. 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 Further description
Saturn PHOTO Shows Moons Tethys And Enceladus In High Resolution
The international Cassini spacecraft mission is a match made in heaven: it pairs advanced imaging technology with Saturn, arguably our most photogenic planet. Only two of the ringed planet's 62 moons are captured in the glorious photo below—others may be too small to be visible. Download the image in various formats here. But the moons that do show up are small by Earth's standards. Tethys's diameter is about one-fifth that of our own moon, and Enceladus' about one-eleventh. Cassini, short for Cassini-Huygens, is a joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ISA). It's not just there to take pretty pictures like this one—its mission objectives include studying the precise shape of Saturn's rings and the geological composition of the planet's moons. More Cassini Images:
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
Moons of Saturn
Artist's concepts of the Saturnian ring–moon system Saturn, its rings and major icy moons—from Mimas to Rhea Images of several moons of Saturn. From left to right: Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea; Titan in the background; Iapetus (top) and irregularly shaped Hyperion (bottom). Some small moons are also shown. All to scale. The rings of Saturn are made up of objects ranging in size from microscopic to moonlets hundreds of meters across, each in its own orbit about the planet.[7] Thus a precise number of Saturnian moons cannot be given, as there is no objective boundary between the countless small anonymous objects that form Saturn's ring system and the larger objects that have been named as moons. Discovery and naming[edit] Early observations[edit] Observations by spacecraft[edit] Four moons of Saturn can be seen on this image by the Cassini spacecraft: Huge Titan and Dione at the bottom, small Prometheus (under the rings) and tiny Telesto above center. Outer moons[edit] Naming[edit]
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 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's Moons
Saturn's Moons The dozens of icy moons orbiting Saturn vary drastically in shape, size, surface age and origin. Some of these worlds have hard, rough surfaces, while others are porous bodies coated in a fine blanket of icy particles. All have greater or smaller numbers of craters, and many have ridges and valleys. Some, like Dione and Tethys, show evidence of tectonic activity, where forces from within ripped apart their surfaces. To date, 53 moons have been officially named. Astronomers continue to find new small moons orbiting Saturn, using both ground-based observatories and Cassini's own imaging cameras. For more information on the latest moons discovered visit the Recent Discoveries page and the Icy Satellites publications listing. Diversity of Worlds The moons of Saturn are a diverse collection. In some ways, the moons Titan and Enceladus have turned out to be the stars of the Cassini mission.
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: Moons
Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, is home to a vast array of intriguing and unique worlds. From the cloud-shrouded surface of Titan to crater-riddled Phoebe, each of Saturn's moons tells another piece of the story surrounding the Saturn system. Christiaan Huygens discovered the first known moon of Saturn. As telescopic resolving power increased through the 19th century, Saturn's family of known moons grew. We've discovered a total of 53 natural satellites orbiting Saturn. Here's a sampling of some of the unique aspects of the moons: - Titan is so large that it affects the orbits of other near-by moons. - Iapetus has one side as bright as snow and one side as dark as black velvet, with a huge ridge running around most of its dark-side equator. - Phoebe orbits the planet in a direction opposite that of Saturn's larger moons, as do several of the more recently discovered moons. - Mimas has an enormous crater on one side, the result of an impact that nearly split the moon apart.
