A Lancaster University Ph.D. student has measured the optical depth of Saturn's rings using a new method based on how much sunlight reached the Cassini spacecraft while it was in the shadow of the rings.
Planetary Sciences
Nov 14, 2023
0
53
Saturn's ocean moon, Enceladus, is attracting increasing attention in the search for life in our solar system. Most of what we know about Enceladus and its ice-covered ocean comes from the Cassini mission. Cassini ended its ...
Astrobiology
Nov 8, 2023
1
8
A new series of supercomputer simulations has offered an answer to the mystery of the origins of Saturn's rings—one that involves a massive collision in the recent history of the 4.5 billion-year-old solar system.
Planetary Sciences
Sep 27, 2023
0
68
Enceladus is the tiny moon of Saturn that seems to have it all. Its icy surface is intricately carved by ongoing geological processes. Its icy shell overlies an internal, liquid ocean. There, chemically charged warm water ...
Astrobiology
Jun 18, 2023
2
45
If you've ever played Kerbal Space Program, you know how difficult it can be to get your spacecraft into the orbit you want. It's even more difficult in real life. This is why it's pretty impressive to see a proposal to study ...
Space Exploration
May 31, 2023
0
17
Two Southwest Research Institute scientists were part of a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team that observed a towering plume of water vapor more than 6,000 miles long—roughly the distance from the U.S. to Japan—spewing ...
Astronomy
May 30, 2023
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748
Six years ago the Cassini spacecraft, which had spent nearly two decades in orbit around Saturn, finished its mission with a grand finale, plunging itself into the depths of Saturn's atmosphere. Those last few orbits and ...
Planetary Sciences
May 16, 2023
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20
A new study led by physicist Sascha Kempf at the University of Colorado Boulder has delivered the strongest evidence yet that Saturn's rings are remarkably young—potentially answering a question that has boggled scientists ...
Planetary Sciences
May 12, 2023
35
733
Southwest Research Institute scientists have compiled 41 solar occultation observations of Saturn's rings from the Cassini mission. The compilation, published recently in the journal Icarus, will inform future investigations ...
Astronomy
Oct 18, 2022
0
233
When NASA's 990-pound Dragonfly rotorcraft reaches the Selk crater region—the mission's target touchdown spot—on Saturn's moon Titan in 2034, Cornell's Léa Bonnefoy will have helped to make it a smooth landing.
Space Exploration
Sep 28, 2022
2
69
