MetaFilter posts tagged with Cassini

Visit Scenic Titan!

blue_beetle — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:27:59 -0800

Kraken Mare lake on Saturn's largest moon Titan was finally located and photographed. It's the first photo of a lake of liquid on another planetary body.

Saturn Equinox

netbros — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:17:16 -0800

Cassini Reveals New Ring Quirks, Shadows During Saturn Equinox. "It's like putting on 3-D glasses and seeing the third dimension for the first time," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This is among the most important events Cassini has shown us." Latest press images.

Cassini. Camera. Saturn.

Saturn XXIII — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:56:21 -0800

NASA's Cassini spacecraft went to Saturn and all it got were these awesome pictures.

Enceladus

homunculus — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:52:15 -0800

Source Of Geysers On Saturn's Moon Enceladus May Be Underground Water. Earlier this year the Cassini spacecraft detected organic material in the geysers of Enceladus. The question now is, how's the fishing?

Second Suns and Planets X

grabbingsand — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 10:37:17 -0800

Second Sun? Not in my solar backyard! The so far successful Cassini-Huygens Mission has been extended by two years, but we can rest easy knowing that if NASA ever scraps the probe by sending it into Saturn's heart, the end result will not be a redundant Sun. After all, Galileo took a programmed header into Jupiter back in September 2003 and we're all still alive, right? But for some, that's not enough to disprove the biggest conspiracy of all time: Project Lucifer STARCHILD !!! [Cue Soundtrack Music] And if a human-engineered Second Sun is just too ludicrous, don't worry. The Internet has several Heavenly Bodies of Doom, each one ready and waiting to destroy Earth. There's Nemesis, The 12th Planet, The Red Persona, Nibiru (and the Anunnaki), and my favorite of them all, Planet X. (Previously: Cassini, Project Lucifer)

Ring Plane Crossing

y2karl — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 22:35:42 -0800

This life-like movie sequence captures Saturn's rings during a ring plane crossing--which Cassini makes twice per orbit--from the spacecraft's point of view. The movie begins with a view of the sunlit side of the rings. As the spacecraft speeds from south to north, the rings appear to tilt downward and collapse to a thin plane, and then open again to reveal the un-illuminated side of the ring plane, where sunlight filters through only dimly.

The Great Crossing -- The Movie (7 MB)

Saturn

Steven C. Den Beste — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 09:37:16 -0800

Saturn is gorgeous. And humans have never seen it from this angle before. (Full sized version)

In Saturn's Shadow

cerebus19 — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 06:45:43 -0800

In Saturn's Shadow. Pictures of Saturn like none you've seen before, taken by Cassini while the planet was in between the probe and the sun. You can just make out Earth in the photos. Previously.

Enceladus.

jrb223 — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 11:33:39 -0800

There's water on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Here's hoping space tourism can pick up the pace a little.

Stunning Saturn/Dione Photo

brownpau — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 20:40:31 -0800

Stunningly beautiful photo of Dione and Saturn with rings. Such a sensation of depth and grandeur. Thanks, Cassini/JPL/NASA. [animation] [planetary photojournal entry] [B/W mirror from kokogiak] [now you play fun Flash spaceship game].

Cassini Flies by Tethys

brownpau — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:04:59 -0800

Cassini Flies by Tethys and Hyperion, and the photos so far have been awesome and weird. I especially want to point out this fascinating view, which, if you look at it closely, reveals what appears to be a string of small impact craters, in a straight line over older terrain. What kind of meteor impact could have produced such an excellent formation of craters? Hyperion photos are coming. (Kokogiak's got backup in case the JRUNS strike.)

Cassini Photos of Saturn's Rings and Moons

brownpau — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 14:24:48 -0800

Rocks Among the Rings. The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla has compiled some of the loveliest imagery of Saturn's ring-and-moon system from Cassini. More on Saturn from the Planetary Society here. Also see the Cassini at Saturn photoset, from our very own kokogiak, and watch for updates on the latest Enceladus flyby.

Odd Spot on Titan Baffles Scientists

Diamornte — Wed, 25 May 2005 12:26:23 -0800

Unidentified Titan Object Saturn's moon Titan shows an unusual bright spot that has scientists mystified. The spot, approximately the size and shape of West Virginia, is just southeast of the bright region called Xanadu and is visible to multiple instruments on the Cassini spacecraft.

Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan

Lanark — Tue, 24 May 2005 16:39:45 -0800

Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn A collaboration between 17 nations (3 space agencies). The atmosphere shows wavelike cloud structures, Saturn's rings display Waves and Small Particles. First image of a small moon orbiting within the Keeler gap.
Previous Missions, 2005 tour dates.

Huygens Makes it!

tgrundke — Fri, 14 Jan 2005 09:52:28 -0800

It worked! Huygens has successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan and the Cassini orbiter is sending good data back to Earth as I type. Isn't it amazing how we can take a probe the size of a compact car, send it on a 7 year journey in the most inhospitable environment imaginable, deploy a sub-probe that has been dormant for that entire time and land it where we had planned on another solar body so far away that it takes 67 minutes to get a signal back and forth. Exploration and research has never been so cool.

Obligatory NASA Post

garethspor — Thu, 13 Jan 2005 22:37:27 -0800

European Space Agency's Huygens Probe Ready for Spectacular Mission to Titan
Mission managers for the European Space Agency's Huygens probe said the spacecraft is on course for its descent to Saturn's mysterious moon Titan on Friday, Jan. 14. The probe, which detached from NASA's Cassini orbiter last month, will be the first object to explore on-site the unique environment of Titan, whose chemistry is thought to be very similar to that of early Earth, before life formed. The data gathered during the probe's 2 1/2 hour descent through Titan's atmosphere will be transmitted from the probe to the Cassini orbiter and then back to Earth.
Make sure to stay tuned in this morning for updates.

WHAT THE FUCK KEYSER?

Keyser Soze — Fri, 24 Dec 2004 21:44:56 -0800

The European Space Agency's Huygens probe successfully detached from NASA's Cassini orbiter today to begin a three-week journey to Saturn's moon Titan. NASA's Deep Space Network tracking stations in Madrid, Spain, and Goldstone, Calif., received the signal at 7:24 p.m. (PST). All systems performed as expected and there were no problems reported with the Cassini spacecraft. There was a very real probability it would have never have happened if it weren't for the persistence of a swedish engineer.

Death Star Found

MrAnonymous — Tue, 27 Jul 2004 17:21:52 -0800

NASA's Cassini has found the Death Star.

Ring-around-the-posie

moonbird — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 06:17:31 -0800

" It was beyond description, really, it was mind-blowing," she said. "I'm surprised at how surprised I am at the beauty and the clarity of these images. They are shocking to me."

Saturn Orbit Insertion

brownpau — Thu, 01 Jul 2004 14:47:20 -0800

"Standard orbit, aye, sir." Following a nail-biting ring-plane crossing and 96-minute engine burn, Cassini has arrived, and is now in orbit around Saturn, 84 light-minutes away, sending in the first closeup pictures of the planet's rings. Also see the Planetary Society's details on the Orbit Insertion, Spaceflight Now's mission updates in weblog-like format, and raw images from the spacecraft as they come. Kudos, JPL! (Aside: the press has yet to tire of Lord of the Rings references.)

cassini visits saturn

yoga — Mon, 14 Jun 2004 17:27:44 -0800

Cassini's present position. Next stop: the ring plane. Phoebe sure looks mangled. Previous post here.

crasspastor — Sat, 22 Sep 2001 04:24:35 -0800

Cassini's just outside the orbit of Jupiter. Where is the space program in all of this? Have mundane zealots hobbled humanity's greatest feats to come? Should we be plotting ourselves to the stars now?

Steven Den Beste — Sat, 30 Dec 2000 22:52:26 -0800

Cassini makes Jupiter flyby on way to Saturn. They successfully made their pass, picking up considerable velocity necessary to make it out to Saturn. [More inside]