Cassini: Saturn, Titan in Sights

Read all about it: a hot star smothering in icy hailstones, the goo on Saturn’s two-faced moon, a newly discovered spiral arm of the Milky Way, a big impact long, long ago, and blushing asteroids.

PLANETARY EXPLORATION

ALL OF SATURN AND ITS RINGS fill this Cassini view taken March 27, 2004. It was the last to capture the whole planet with the narrow-angle camera. NASA/JPL/SSI

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, launched in 1997, finally reached Saturn on July 1, firing its rocket and entering orbit. Later this year, the Huygens probe will drop into the atmosphere of the planet’s largest moon, Titan.

“We’ve spent a lot of time on this mission,” says science planner Trina Ray (JPL). “Now that things are starting to happen, it’s very exciting.” Titan is a priority, notes Carolyn Porco (Space Science Institute), imaging team leader: “That we can see the surface now with simple image processing says to expect sights on Titan never seen before.”

-PAMELA ZERBINOS

TITAN’S SURFACE shows faintly in this far-encounter image from Cassini made at haze-penetrating infrared wavelengths. NASA/JPL/SSI

Copyright Kalmbach Publishing Company Aug 2004