Sun, Dec 25, 2011
New Images Of Titan, Other Moons Make Them Look A Bit Like
Christmas Ornaments
No team of reindeer, but radio signals flying clear across the
solar system from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have delivered a
holiday package of pretty spectacular images. The pictures, from
Cassini's imaging team, show Saturn's largest, most colorful
ornament, Titan, and other icy baubles in orbit around this
splendid planet.
The release includes images of satellite conjunctions in which
one moon passes in front of or behind another. Cassini scientists
regularly make these observations to study the ever-changing orbits
of the planet's moons. But even in these routine images, the
Saturnian system shines. A few of Saturn's stark, airless, icy
moons appear to dangle next to the orange orb of Titan, the only
moon in the solar system with a substantial atmosphere. Titan's
atmosphere is of great interest because of its similarities to the
atmosphere believed to exist long ago on the early Earth.
While it may be wintry in Earth's northern hemisphere, it is
currently northern spring in the Saturnian system and it will
remain so for several Earth years. Current plans to extend the
Cassini mission through 2017 will supply a continued bounty of
scientifically rewarding and majestic views of Saturn and its moons
and rings, as spectators are treated to the passage of northern
spring and the arrival of summer in May 2017.
"As another year traveling this magnificent sector of our solar
system draws to a close, all of us on Cassini wish all of you a
very happy and peaceful holiday season, " said Carolyn Porco,
Cassini imaging team lead at the Space Science Institute, Boulder,
CO.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.
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