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. The Adventure Ahead

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Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 09, 2004
This majestic view of Saturn captures several phenomena of interest to scientists working on the Cassini mission. The planet's nighttime atmosphere looms ahead - an excellent place to search for storms and lightning. Saturn's shadow stretches across the rings, which will over the next four years receive their most thorough examination since Galileo discovered them in 1610.

And barely visible near lower right just inside the F ring, is the small shepherd moon Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across). Researchers will explore the many moons of Saturn, including special ones like Prometheus that help maintain some of the rings and gaps in this complex and dynamic system.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 940,000 kilometers (584,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 52 kilometers (33 miles) per pixel.

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Second Space Christmas For ESA: Huygens To Begin Final Journey To Titan
Paris, France (ESA) Dec 08, 2004
At 1.25 billion km from Earth, after a 7-year journey through the Solar system, ESA's Huygens probe is about to separate from the Cassini orbiter to enter a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the largest and most mysterious moon of Saturn, in order to dive into its atmosphere on 14 January.
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