The Cassini spacecraft recently passed very near the tiny moon Helene and returned amazing pictures of it. Helene is a dinky iceball, only about 36×32x30 km (22×19x18 miles) in size (this picture has an incredible resolution of about 113 meters (103 yards) per pixel). It circles Saturn in the same orbit as the much larger Dione,
Posted by Bad Astronomy
Am gestrigen 3. März flog die Raumsonde Cassini am unregelmäßig geformten Saturnmond Helene vorbei. Der etwa 32 km durchmessende Mond umkreist den Saturn auf der gleichen Bahn wie der viel größere Mond Dione. Die geringe Dichte von Helene weist darauf hin, dass sie überwiegend aus Wassereis sowie geringen Anteilen Silikatgestein zusammengesetzt ist.
Posted by Solscape
Die mit Kratern überzogene Oberfläche von Saturns zweitgrößtem Mond Rhea wurde von der Raumsonde Cassini am 2. März 2010 während eines nahen Vorbeiflugs ins Visier genommen. Die Raumsonde überflog den 1. 528 km durchmessenden Saturnmond in einer Höhe von nur 100 km.
Posted by Solscape
The Moon, like the planets and the Sun, travels along a special path in the sky called the ecliptic. Observationally, the path arcs generally across the southern half the sky from west to east, but it is not a simple arc that is in the exact same part of the sky year round. Rather, it curves higher in the sky and lower in the sky as the seasons change. Right now, in late winter, the Sun remains low in the sky but is gradually climbing the ecliptic, getting slightly higher each day. The Moon this
Posted by The Urban Astronomer
From time to time this blog has wondered about Black Holes within our solar system. From deep within Saturn's Ring system, our Cassini spacecraft has captured the closest views yet of the mysterious moon Prometheus. Prometheus and Pandora are called shepherd moons because they appear to hold F Ring in place. At one time the Rings were thought to exist inside a mathematical "Roche Limit." Outside this limit moons could form, and inside they would break up tidally to form Ring fragments. Prometh
Posted by GM=tc^3
The Cassini mission keeps churning out the hits, and here's a collection of some of the latest stunning images released by the CICLOPS (Cassini Imaging for Central Operations) team. Above, the small moon Janus is almost hidden between the planet's rings and the larger moon Rhea. The northern part of Janus can be
Posted by Universe Today
On November 21, 2009, the Cassini spacecraft sliced past Saturn's moon Enceladus, shaving the iceball at a distance of 1600 km (1000 miles). From that distance, the view was astonishing…It's been known for some time that the south pole of Enceladus is lousy with geysers, erupting water into space (though the ultimate source of the
Posted by Bad Astronomy
fyi:More images from Enceladus flyby last Nov. 21 2009.–BenForest of JetsCassini's close flyby of Enceladus last Nov. 21 revealed a forest of new jets spraying from the prominent fractures crossing the south polar region and yielded the most detailed temperature map to date… http://ciclops. org/view_event/129/Forest_of_Jets
Posted by Slacker Astronomy
Saturn is back in the evening sky. Having shot some three colour video sequences of Mars on the Celestron 9. 25 I switched to Saturn which was just rising out of the murk at about 20 degrees elevation. The rings are just beginning to open out after last year's edge on aspect and with the planet
Posted by Andrew's Astronomy Blog
Cassini is headed towards that small moon. That's no small moon, That's a Space Station!oh wait, yes it is just a small moon.–Ben=====================================****** Forwarded Message Follows *******February 15, 2010Dear Friends and Colleagues,Latest images from Cassini's flybys of Saturn's Death Star' moon, Mimas, and one of its small moons, Calypso, are now down on the ground. If
Posted by Slacker Astronomy
On February 13, 2010, Cassini flew by Saturn's moon Mimas, coming as close as 9,500 km. It passed directly over Herschel, a giant crater whose creation almost shattered the moon ... and which, in its appearance in some earlier images, earned Mimas the nickname "Death Star", after the iconic Star Wars prop. The Cassini team has just
Posted by Universe Today
Das Weltraumteleskop Hubble hat eine seltene Gelegenheit genutzt, um Polarlichter auf dem Saturn zu fotografieren. Von der Erde aus konnte man im vergangenen Jahr fast genau auf die Kante der markanten Saturnringe blicken. Zugleich herrschte auf dem majestätischen Ringplaneten Tagundnachtgleiche; beide Pole wurden daher gleichmäßig von der Sonne beschienen. Eine solche Konstellation tritt nur etwa alle
Posted by Solscape
OK, it's actually the Herschel crater on Mimas, a smallish moon of Saturn (and it's the eve of Chinese New Year, February 13th, 2010), but it's a cool headline, don't you think?Cassini will be very busy that day, which begins with a rare sunrise the Sun goes behind Saturn (from Cassini's perspective) followed
Posted by Universe Today
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