Saturn All Up By Cassini One Last Time

RINGWORLDS

Cassini's Last Full View Of Saturn

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NASA image

Boulder - Apr 30, 2004
Saturn and its rings completely fill the field of view of Cassini's narrow angle camera in this natural color image taken on March 27, 2004.

This is the last single 'eyeful' of Saturn and its rings achievable with the narrow angle camera on approach to the planet. From now until orbit insertion, Saturn and its rings will be larger than the field of view of the narrow angle camera.

Color variations between atmospheric bands and features in the southern hemisphere of Saturn, as well as subtle color differences across the planet�s middle B ring, are now more distinct than ever.

Color variations generally imply different compositions. The nature and causes of any compositional differences in both the atmosphere and the rings are major questions to be investigated by Cassini scientists as the mission progresses.

The bright blue sliver of light in the northern hemisphere is sunlight passing through the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings and being scattered by the cloud-free upper atmosphere.

Two faint dark spots are visible in the southern hemisphere. These spots are close to the latitude where Cassini saw two storms merging in mid-March. The fate of the storms visible here is unclear.

They are getting close and will eventually merge or squeeze past each other. Further analysis of such dynamic systems in Saturn's atmosphere will help scientists understand their origins and complex interactions.

Moons visible in this image are (clockwise from top right): Enceladus (499 kilometers or 310 miles across), Mimas (398 kilometers or 247 miles across), Tethys (1060 kilometers or 659 miles across) and Epimetheus (116 kilometers or 72 miles across). Epimetheus is dim and appears just above the left edge of the rings. Brightnesses have been exaggerated to aid visibility.

The image is a composite of three exposures, in red, green and blue, taken when the spacecraft was 47.7 million kilometers (29.7 million miles) from the planet. The image scale is 286 kilometers (178 miles) per pixel.

RINGWORLDS

Movie Shows Hydrocarbon Haze Huygens Will Encounter During Titan Entry

Berkeley - Apr 16, 2004
As the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft approaches a July encounter with Saturn and its moon Titan, a team of University of California, Berkeley, astronomers has produced a detailed look at the moon's cloud cover and what the Huygens probe will see as it dives through the atmosphere of Titan to land on the surface.

Caught In The Act: Two Storms Merging On Saturn

Pasadena - Apr 13, 2004
Three months before Saturn arrival, the Cassini spacecraft has observed two storms in the act of merging into one larger storm. This is only the second time this phenomenon has been observed on the ringed planet.

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