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Bizarre Hexagon on Saturn May Be 180 Miles Tall
The weird hexagon swirling around Saturn's north pole is much taller than scientists had thought, a new study suggests. Researchers have generally regarded the 20,000-mile-wide (32,000 kilometers) hexagon — a jet stream composed of air moving at about 200 mph (320 km/h) — as a lower-atmosphere phenomenon, restricted to the clouds of Saturn's troposphere.
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Postcard from the Ring Plane
On March 13, 2006 Cassini's narrow-angle camera captured this look at Saturn and its rings, seen here nearly edge on. The frame also features Mimas and tiny Janus (above the rings), and Tethys (below the rings). "Above" and "below" the rings is mostly a matter of perspective here. All three moons and the rings orbit Saturn in roughly the same plane.
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Play Saturns Rings Like a Harp
Sure, you've seen Saturn's rings -- but have you ever heard them?
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Something very weird is happening on Saturn’s moon Titan
Thanks to the efforts of NASA and its incredibly reliable Cassini spacecraft, we now know more about Saturn and its moons than ever before, but it seems there are still some surprises in store for scientists studying the planet and its natural satellites. New research by scientists at the University of Bristol has revealed an interesting quirk with Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and it flies in the face of everything science has predicted.
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Extreme methane rainstorms appear to have a key role in shaping Titan’s icy surface
Titan, the largest of Saturn's more than 60 moons, has surprisingly intense rainstorms, according to research by a team of UCLA planetary scientists and geologists. Although the storms are relatively rare—they occur less than once per Titan year, which is 29 and a half Earth years—they occur much more frequently than the scientists expected.
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Space Photos of the Week: So Long, Cassini. Thanks for All the Pics
This week, all eyes are on Saturn and, more specifically, the Cassini spacecraft which circled the planet one last time before crashing into its murky surface on Friday. It left behind thousands of images, including some final shots like the photo of Saturn's clouds near the terminator, which is the boundary between night and day. It also took the awkwardly named "goodbye-kiss" image of Titan. The moon's gravity gave Cassini one final push around Saturn before its dramatic end.
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Cassini: Mission to Saturn: Where is Cassini Now?
Cassini is one of the most ambitious efforts in planetary space exploration. A joint endeavour of NASA, ESA and the Italian space agency, Cassini is a sophisticated spacecraft exploring the Saturnian system since 2004. The final signal will take 83 minutes to reach Earth.
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Cassini’s Mission to Saturn in 100 Images
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will burn up in Saturn’s atmosphere on Friday, after 20 years in space.
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NASA's Cassini probe is about to plunge to its doom — and its fiery death may be visible to telescopes on Earth
Early on Friday morning, NASA's Cassini probe will meet its doom as it becomes a streak of plutonium-laced fireworks in the clouds of Saturn. The nuclear-powered robot was launched in 1997 year to deeply study Saturn and its mysterious collection of moons. Cassini arrived in 2004, dropped off a lander on one moon, began orbiting Saturn, and has beamed back data and images to Earth ever since. Scientists would love to keep the $3.26-billion mission going, but knew their robot would eventually run too low on propellant to safely control.
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End is nigh for Nasa's Cassini as it heads for crash landing on Saturn
Nasa’s Cassini mission to Saturn is entering its final week. On 15 September, it will dive towards the planet and burn up in its atmosphere. Nasa have called it the grand finale. Cassini is one of the most ambitious space missions. It is a collaboration between Nasa, ESA and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana. The spacecraft, launched on 15 October 1997, took seven years to travel through the solar system to Saturn, which lies about 10 times further from the Sun than Earth.
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Cassini Dropped Its Most Mind-Blowing Look At Saturn's Rings Yet
Though Cassini only has a few days left to study Saturn before it dies, it’s seriously making them count. Today, NASA released what it says are “the highest-resolution color images of any part of Saturn’s rings.” In true Cassini fashion, they’re absolutely mesmerizing.
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Cassini to Begin Final Five Orbits Around Saturn
NASA's Cassini spacecraft will enter new territory in its final mission phase, the Grand Finale, as it prepares to embark on a set of ultra-close passes through Saturn’s upper atmosphere with its final five orbits around the planet.
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There may be alien life in our solar system, says Nasa
There might be alien life in our own solar system, Nasa has announced. All of the necessary things to support life have been found on one of the moons that orbits Saturn. Enceladus has chemicals that when found on Earth tend to indicate life, suggesting that there might be living things might be under its icy shell.
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RIP Cassini: A Look Back At the Doomed Probe's Most Stunning Saturn Pictures
Alas, all good things must come to an end. Today, NASA will announce the details regarding its Cassini spacecraft’s Grand Finale—a resplendent ending to its 20-year-long adventure in space, which will begin later this month. From late April to September 15th, Cassini will perform 22 dramatic dives between Saturn and its rings. Then, the brave little orbiter will plunge itself into Saturn’s atmosphere and burn up like a meteor—all while sending information back to Earth.
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Mysterious ‘Magic Islands’ on Saturn’s Titan Moon May Have Just Been Explained
Scientists had a few possible explanations for transient features spotted on Saturn’s largest moon, but a new study points to a theory that may prove to be the most likely reason: Titan’s seas are bubbling with nitrogen. By Nancy Atkinson.
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One of Saturn’s moons may be our best option for life after Earth
It’s several hundred years into the future. You live in a cold climate, but thick clothing keeps you warm. You eat food from the community greenhouse. Sometimes you even go boating, spending tranquil days under the orange sky. Life is similar in some ways to how it is now. In other ways, it’s very different. For one thing, you can fly. Also — your body is now permanently incapable of adapting to Earth’s atmosphere, and you can never return.
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Cassini Beams Back First Images from New Orbit
This view from NASA's Cassini spacecraft was obtained about two days before its first close pass by the outer edges of Saturn's main rings during its penultimate mission phase.
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How Cassini Will Begin Its Date With Death on Saturn
On Wednesday, the spacecraft that has studied Saturn for a dozen years will commence a series of maneuvers that will graze the planet’s rings. By Dennis Overbye.
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Cassini finds flooded canyons on Saturn’s moon Titan
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found deep, steep-sided canyons on Saturn’s moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons. The finding represents the first direct evidence of the presence of liquid-filled channels on Titan, as well as the first observation of canyons hundreds of meters deep.
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Saturn's Rings And Moons May Have Been Born When Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth
If the dinosaurs had had telescopes, they might have been able to witness something really cool happening in the sky. (No, not the incoming space rock that would ultimately destroy them, though it might've helped with that, too…) A new computer simulation suggests that Saturn's iconic rings and many of its moons were born about 100 million years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.
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