Ontario Lacus, the largest lake in the southern hemisphere of Saturn’s moon Titan, turns out to be a perfect exotic vacation spot, provided you can handle the frosty, subzero temperatures and enjoy soaking in liquid hydrocarbon.
Archive for the ‘Cassini’ Category
See Beautiful Ontario Lacus: Cassini’s Guided Tour
Monday, July 19th, 2010Cassini spies tiny moon
Friday, July 9th, 2010The Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft has captured the best picture yet of the tiny moon it discovered in 2005, scientists said Wednesday.
Scientists await Cassini’s Sunday night adventure
Monday, June 21st, 2010The Cassini spacecraft is heading toward its closest encounter with the mysterious world of Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, during a daring flyby Sunday night that scientists hope will answer a key question.
Largest Lake on Saturn’s Moon Titan Gets Close-Up
Friday, June 11th, 2010NASA’s Cassini spacecraft snapped new photos of Saturn’s biggest moon Titan during a recent flyby over the moon’s northern pole that targeted the home of the cloudy moon’s largest methane lake.
Hints of life found on Saturn moon
Friday, June 4th, 2010Two potential signatures of life on Saturn’s moon Titan have been found by the Cassini spacecraft. But scientists are quick to point out that non-biological chemical reactions could also be behind the observations.
What is Consuming Hydrogen and Acetylene on Titan?
Friday, June 4th, 2010Two new papers based on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft scrutinize the complex chemical activity on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. While non-biological chemistry offers one possible explanation, some scientists believe these chemical signatures bolster the argument for a primitive, exotic form of life or precursor to life on Titan’s surface.
Cassini Double Play: Enceladus and Titan
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010About a month and a half after its last double flyby, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will be turning another double play this week, visiting the geyser moon Enceladus and the hazy moon Titan.
Cassini Measures Tug of Enceladus
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will be gliding low over Saturn’s moon Enceladus for a gravity experiment designed to probe the moon’s interior composition.
Double Play: Spacecraft to Image Two Saturn Moons This Week
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010A lucky cosmic alignment will allow NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to swing up close to two of Saturn’s moons back-to-back this week.
Cassini Shows Saturnian Roller Derby, Strange Weather
Monday, March 22nd, 2010From 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.
Cassini Sees Saturn’s Rough and Tumble Rings
Sunday, March 21st, 2010The rings of Saturn are the most intricate planetary decorations in our solar system, but are also cosmic gems festooned with unknown red material and some tricky dynamic forces that shape them.
Is That Saturn’s Moon Titan or Utah?
Saturday, March 6th, 2010
Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn’s moon Titan. Now, working with a “volunteer researcher” who has put his own spin on data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain on Earth known as karst topography.
CASSINI IMAGES SATURN’S ‘DEATH STAR’ MOON
Thursday, February 18th, 2010NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft this month made its closest pass yet of the odd, eyeball-shaped moon Mimas, which bears the scar of a massive, violent impact from its past.
Cassini detection adds to Enceladus liquid water story
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010There seems little doubt that Saturn’s moon Enceladus hides a large body of liquid water beneath its icy skin.
The Cassini probe, which periodically sweeps past the little moon, has returned yet more data to back up the idea of a sub-surface sea.
Cassini gets another extended mission until 2017
Friday, February 5th, 2010The robotic Cassini explorer circling Saturn was granted a mission extension until 2017 on Wednesday, as NASA engineers and scientists plot a daring end to the $3 billion mission that will take the spacecraft inside of the planet’s famous rings.
Route 66: Cassini’s Next Look at Titan
Friday, January 29th, 2010Sixteen days after last visiting Saturn’s largest moon, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft returns for another look-see of the cloud-shrouded moon – this time from on high. The flyby on Thursday, Jan. 28, referred to as “T-66″ in the hollowed halls of Cassini operations, will place the spacecraft within 7,490 kilometers (4,654 miles) above the surface during time of closest approach.
As The Crust Turns: Cassini Data Show Enceladus in Motion
Thursday, January 14th, 2010Blobs of warm ice that periodically rise to the surface and churn the icy crust on Saturn’s moon Enceladus explain the quirky heat behavior and intriguing surface of the moon’s south polar region, according to a new paper using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
zSaturn’s Prometheus: Just Plain Weird!
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn for only 5½ years, but in that time this remarkable craft has had occasion to pass near many of the planet’s 61 moons (six of which were discovered in its images). It’s an amazing bunch of bodies — variously big and small, smooth and cratered, gas-gushing and quiescent.
NEW MOON MARVELS
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009
The Cassini orbiter has been working overtime during the holidays to deliver a cartload of gifts from Saturn and its moons. Highlights include fresh views of frost-spewing Enceladus and yam-shaped Prometheus, plus a “Nutcracker”-style ballet of Saturnian satellites.
Fog Seen on Saturn Moon Titan–A First
Tuesday, December 29th, 2009Earth-like fog shrouds chilly lakes on the south pole of Saturn’s moon Titan, scientists say.