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Joined: May 2010
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
On July 1, 2014, Cassini-Huygens went into orbit around Saturn. It was a venture of NASA, ESA the European Space Agency and ASI the Italian Space Agency. Huygens was later released by Cassini to fulfill its mission of landing on Saturn's largest moon Titan. You can find out here about Titan - Planet-sized Moon of Saturn.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
An early Cassini image showing Saturn's moon Mimas in the foreground and
what looks like Saturn's rings in the background. That's actually the planet's northern hemisphere with shadows of the rings on it. It's also a lovely blue. Over the ten years Cassini has been there the seasons have changed, and we now see a more golden color. However, the southern hemisphere is becoming more blue. Here is a larger and quite stunning version of the image.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
Saturn's moon Iapetus is very strange. Half of it is as dark a coal - that's the leading hemisphere as it moves in its orbit. But the other hemisphere is very bright. 10 Amazing Facts about Saturn's Moons will tell you more about Saturn's moons.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
Hyperion has an irregular shape and in this Cassini image it looks like a sponge. It's probably a fragment of a larger moon that broke up long ago. Its rotation is chaotic because of the gravitational pull of Titan.
Last edited by Mona - Astronomy; 07/03/14 03:58 AM.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
Titan is bigger than the planet Mercury - it contains 96% of the total mass of all of Saturn's 62 known moons. Here is a Cassini picture of little Dione with Titan in the background.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
Here are Saturn and its biggest moon Titan, one of the many fabulous images that Cassini has produced over the last decade. Click to find out more about the Cassini mission and website. The website has loads more gorgeous pictures.
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,973 Likes: 30 |
A new Cassini picture has been released. I always think they can't get any better, but I had to share this one. Saturn has a polar vortex that forms a hexagon shape. It is truly amazing. Yes, it is completely natural. It's just the shape that the jet stream forms around its perimeter. And a bonus: Saturn's wonderful rings. Saturn: north polar vortex, hexagon, and rings.
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