Cassini

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Saturn's 'Death Star' Moon May Hide an Ocean
Saturn's
'Death Star'
Moon May
Hide an Ocean
NEW STUDY
Feb 8, 2024 6:25 PM CST

Saturn's 'Death Star' Moon May Hide an Ocean

Relatively young ocean thought to fill half of Mimas' volume

(Newser) - Astronomers have found the best evidence yet of a vast, young ocean beneath the icy exterior of Saturn's Death Star lookalike mini moon. The French-led team analyzed changes in Mimas' orbit and rotation and reported that a hidden ocean 12 to 18 miles beneath the frozen crust was more...

'Bittersweet' End for Cassini Saturn Probe
'Bittersweet' End
for Cassini
Saturn Probe 
THE RUNDOWN
Sep 15, 2017 12:05 PM CDT

'Bittersweet' End for Cassini Saturn Probe

'I've never watched a spacecraft die': NASA team member

(Newser) - Three missions, 20 years in space, 4.9 billion miles traveled, and nearly a half-million photographs taken. Those are just a few of the figures Space.com throws out about the day of what it deems the "bittersweet" demise of the Cassini space probe , which, on its last fumes...

Say Goodbye to the Amazing Cassini Spacecraft
Mission Complete: Cassini
Burns Up Over Saturn
UPDATED
Sep 15, 2017 7:10 AM CDT

Mission Complete: Cassini Burns Up Over Saturn

Spacecraft vaporizes after 20-year journey exploring planet

(Newser) - Cassini is no more. NASA, and the world, are saying goodbye to the Cassini spacecraft Friday morning after it burned up over Saturn as planned. Cassini plunged through the planet's atmosphere and vaporized like a meteor, ending a remarkable journey of 20 years, per the AP . "Our @CassiniSaturn...

Cassini Gets Kiss Goodbye, Careens Toward Its Death

Spacecraft will forever become one with the planet on Friday

(Newser) - After a 20-year voyage, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is poised to dive into Saturn this week to become forever one with the exquisite planet. There's no turning back: Friday it careens through the atmosphere and burns up like a meteor in the sky over Saturn. The only spacecraft ever...

Daring Mission Snaps Closest Ever Images of Saturn

Cassini probe dives between Saturn's rings

(Newser) - The view of a planet that’s 746 million miles away just got a little clearer, thanks to a historic first by NASA's Cassini probe. The spacecraft completed a dive between Saturn and its rings, capturing data and images of the planet never seen before. The first photos began...

Cassini Mission to Saturn Will End in Death, Discovery

The spacecraft will soon plunge into Saturn itself

(Newser) - Two decades after putting Earth in its rear-view mirror, the Cassini spacecraft is preparing to wrap up its mission to Saturn—and that means plunging to its death in the planet's atmosphere, according to a press release . Cassini has been orbiting Saturn since 2004, sending back information on the...

Single Photo Shows 3 Crescent Moons

Image from Cassini orbiter shows Titan, Rhea, and Mimas in all their crescent glory

(Newser) - It's not often (as in never) that we're able to look up into the night sky and see three crescent moons floating serenely above us. But thanks to a picture from the Cassini orbiter released by NASA, we're able to get a rare look at what three...

Top Contender for Life Outside Earth: a Saturn Moon

Enceladus has a warm ocean, hydrothermal activity

(Newser) - Thanks to the Cassini spacecraft, we already knew that one of Saturn's moons has a big ocean . Now things have gotten more interesting on Enceladus. It turns out that the ocean is not only warm, it seems to have the same kind of hydrothermal activity going on as oceans...

Saturn Moon Now 'Best Bet' for Finding Life

Probe finds new signs of underground Enceladus ocean

(Newser) - Saturn's sixth-largest moon holds an underground ocean with at least as much water as Lake Superior, according to exciting new data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft that makes some scientists believe Enceladus is now the place in our solar system where we're most likely to find extraterrestrial life....

Photos of Earth, Taken 900M Miles Away

We're just a dot in NASA pics

(Newser) - Stunning new pictures taken from near Saturn and Mercury make our planet look pretty insignificant. We're just a tiny dot next to Saturn in an image taken by the NASA spacecraft Cassini, Space.com reports. That makes it a little tough to see that some 20,000 humans were...

Huge Lake Found in Titan's Tropics

Discovery suggests underground channels

(Newser) - University of Arizona researchers have discovered a massive methane lake in the arid tropics of Titan, they announced today, suggesting that Saturn's biggest moon may have subterranean channels of the liquid. Titan has long been known to contain liquid methane, which forms pools, clouds, and rains much as water...

'Snowball Fight' Spotted in Saturn's Weirdest Ring

Cassini probe captures objects punching through ring

(Newser) - Inside Saturn's outermost ring, NASA's Cassini probe has captured activity that researchers liken to a cosmic snowball fight. Hundreds of balls of snow and ice up to half a mile in diameter have been spotted punching through the F ring at gentle speeds, leaving glittering trails behind them,...

Saturn Moon May Hide Underground Ocean

Salt water ice spewing out from under the surface

(Newser) - Saturn’s moon Enceladus is spewing what appears to be chunks of ice composed of salt-water vapor out of fractures in its southern pole, leading scientists to believe there may be a massive ocean lurking beneath its surface. The plumes were first discovered by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft some time ago,...

NASA Nabs Close-Ups of 'Spongy' Saturn Moon

NASA's Cassini probe snaps ultra-close image of Hyperion

(Newser) - NASA's Cassini probe did a fly-by of Saturn’s Hyperion moon, and came away with close-up images that show a remarkably sponge-like surface, the Daily Mail reports. The moon, one of at least 62 ringing the planet, is covered with deep craters, and NASA scientists are hoping to discover what’...

'Ice Volcanoes' Spotted on Titan
'Ice Volcanoes'
Spotted on Titan
Dec 15, 2010 4:33 AM CST

'Ice Volcanoes' Spotted on Titan

'We finally have some proof that Titan is an active world'

(Newser) - Scientists say they've seen the clearest evidence yet that volcanoes sprout from Titan's icy surface, though a probe may need to land on the Saturn moon should they want to know exactly what the "cryovolcanoes" are spewing out. Three peaks and pits spotted by the Cassini probe are "...

Tsunamis Spotted in Saturn's Rings

Rings may be remnants of smashed icy moon

(Newser) - Mile-high tsunamis of icy particles are endlessly rippling around Saturn's rings, scientists told the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Science meeting this week. Astronomers, using data from NASA's Cassini probe, believe the waves, which move up to 800 feet per day, are caused when gravity from the colossal moon...

Scientists Think Something Is Living on Saturn Moon

Primitive lifeform may explain absence of hydrogen

(Newser) - Something is sucking up hydrogen on one of Saturn's moons and NASA scientists believe it could be alive. Data from the Cassini probe suggests there is less hydrogen and acetylene on Titan's surface than scientists expected, a phenomenon that could be explained by the existence of primitive, methane-based lifeforms, the...

Massive Saturn Storm Seen From Earth

Blizzard 5 times bigger than Snowmageddon

(Newser) - America's "Snowmageddon" winter storm this year would be no big deal on Saturn, where an ammonia-ice storm at least 5 times larger—so massive and turbulent that amateur astronomers can see it from earth —is currently raging. NASA's Cassini spacecraft, orbiting Saturn, is picking up data from the...

Hidden Ocean Found on Saturn Moon
Hidden Ocean Found on
Saturn Moon
Mar 21, 2008 4:13 AM CDT

Hidden Ocean Found on Saturn Moon

Watery Titan and salty Mars could have evidence of life

(Newser) - NASA has unlocked two more of the solar system's secrets, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The Cassini orbiter discovered evidence of an underground ocean churning deep below the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, and the Mars Odyssey spacecraft has found ancient salt deposits on the red planet. Both discoveries have...

Saturn Moon Rings Detected
Saturn Moon Rings Detected
Mar 7, 2008 4:20 AM CST

Saturn Moon Rings Detected

Rhea could be be the first known moon with rings

(Newser) - Saturn’s second-largest moon, Rhea, could be the first known moon with rings. The spacecraft Cassini detected apparent evidence of rings when it spotted debris around Rhea as it flew by in 2005, reports space.com. The set of rings has not been directly seen, but scientists inferred that the...

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