Saturn’s largest moon has been fully mapped for the first time.
This Hubble Space Telescope image of Saturn and a few of its moons shows how hard it can be to spot the gas giant’s tiny orbiting companions.
NASA / ESA / Hubble
Most people think that many millions of years ago, Saturn didn’t have rings at all. Instead, it had a big moon moving around it. Eventually, the moon burst and broke into pieces.
With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the Sun’s blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before.
NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Vahe Peroomian, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Although the rings of Saturn may look like a permanent fixture of the planet, they are ever-changing. New analyses of the rings reveal how and when they were made, from what and whether they’ll last.
Artist’s impression of the Dragonfly landing.
NASA
Titan is more than a billion kilometres from our Sun but occasionally it’s shadow can be seen here on Earth, with the right technology. That’s what scientists gathered in Western Australia to observe.
The Blood Moon from January 31, 2018. Our second chance to see an eclipsed Moon this year is coming up on July 28.
Martin George
Scientists used to think that the ocean on Enceladus would be transient, perhaps freezing after a few million years. A new study suggests this isn’t the case.
Mission control loses signal from Cassini.
NASA/Joel Kowsky
As Cassini’s titanic mission comes to an end, we need to start thinking ahead. A combined mission to explore Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus would be a good place to start.
An illustration of Cassini as it plunges into Saturn’s atmosphere.
NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Cassini space probe discovered liquid lakes, poisonous gases and the basic elements of life on Saturn’s moon, Titan.
Cassini makes the first radio occultation of Saturn’s rings producing this simulated image with green for particles smaller than 5cm and purple where particles are larger.
NASA/JPL
The Cassini space probe took us up close and through the beautiful rings of Saturn. It captured some amazing images, and even the sound of the rings during its mission.
A Cassini portrait of five of Saturn’s moons. Janus (179km across) is on the far left, Pandora (81km across) orbits between the A ring and the thin F ring, Enceladus (504km across) is centre, Rhea (1,528km), is bisected by the right edge of the image and the smaller moon Mimas (396km) is seen beyond Rhea also on the right side of the image.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
With only days to go before NASA’s Cassini space probe ends its two-decade mission to explore Saturn, what has it revealed about the ringed planet, the second largest in our solar system?
Both Voyager spacecraft are only in communication with Earth via a Canberra tracking station.
NASA/JPL
The Voyager space probes sent back some amazing images of the planets in the outer Solar System, and they’re still talking to Earth every day via Australia’s tracking station.
False colour mosaic made from infrared data collected by the Cassini spacecraft.
NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute