Mountains on Titan

Mountains on the Earth form from continental plates colliding with each other. Mountains on Saturn's moon, Titan? Well, it has to be something different because it has no plates. So what is it? Well, this moon appears to be shrinking ever so slightly as it cools, wrinkling the surface and forming mountains. Go here and here to read more.

Saturn's heartbeat

Just like the Earth, Saturn powers a strong magnetic field. And just like the Earth's particles trapped in this magnetic field both emit radio waves as well as optical light (called aurora) when they enter the atmosphere. Saturn's radio emission as observed from Earth is pulsed due to its rotation, and it now turns out that its aurorae are pulsed with the same period and phase. Read more about it here.

The Dunes on Titan

Sand dunes are shaped by wind as they blow across sand. Simple enough. They face the direction of the wind. Again, simple enough. Winds typically flow in the same directly as a planet rotate. Okay, makes sense. Yet the dunes on Titan are facing the direction opposite rotation. Huh? It's all the season's fault. Go here, here and here to read more.

Planetary Snowball Fight!

Not really, but it does make for a nice title. Saturn's rings are a collection of tiny pieces of ice and rock, and the combined gravitational push and pull of Saturn's moons causes this material to clump into beautiful structures, as you can see here and here and here. This is how small, icy moons are made by the way- which is really cool to observe.

Titan video

Not the parents of the Greek gods, but Saturn's largest moon. Read about it here and here.

Baby Planet Formation

captured inside Saturn's rings. Read about it here and here. It is so reassuring when you actually see the things the computer models tell you should be taking place.

A River of Oxygen

From Saturn's moon Enceladus to Titan. Really? Yes, according to this article. Wow.

Titan's Case of Missing Hydrogen

NASA is on it. Read more here to learn about it. Answering questions like this is the key to trying to prove the existence of life elsewhere in the Universe, as I hope to discuss soon.

Watching a blizzard on Saturn

with your help! Go here to read how NASA and amateur astronomers teamed up recently to do exactly that. Quite impressive.

Cassini's Fate

Go here to read a very interesting New York Times article as to what is required for the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn to observe all of the regions NASA wants it to with the limited amount of propellant it has left. Orbital dynamics is complicated stuff.

Saturn's close-up

More pretty pictures assembled by the New York Times here.

Lightning strikes on Saturn

Seriously. Check it out here. Not necessarily that surprising, but impressive nevertheless.

Pacman lives!

On Saturn? Read this for more silly details.

Saturn's Leaky Moon

One of the Cassini's satellites biggest discoveries that one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus, is ejecting dust and gas into its surroundings - which is possibly responsible for one of Saturn's outer rings. Thanks to a semi-recent flyby of this moon by Cassini, we now know much better where this material is coming from. Go here to read all the details. Enjoy!

Yet another Saturn movie...

... this one courtesy of the Hubble Space Telescope, which observed Saturn when its rings where edge-on as observed from the Earth, during which time one can see both of Saturn's pole at once for the Earth. Go here to watch its images of Saturn's Northern and Southern lights!

Dancing Moons

In projection, at least. Go here to see what I'm taking about, courtesy of the Cassini team.

Rotating Saturn's Moon

Moons, like planets, rotate. And Cassini has taken this wonderful view of Enceladus, the peculiar moon of Saturn producing those weird ice and dust jets. Enjoy!

Belated Happy Birthday to the Hugyen's Probe

Just over 5 years ago, the Cassini spacecraft
deposited the Huygens probe in the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, which transmitted precious data as it fell through Titan's atmosphere and landed on the surface. Go here to read more about what astronomers are learning from this data more than 5 years after it was recorded. Enjoy!

Lakes on Titan

Read this interesting article concerning why almost all of the lakes on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, are found on one side of this object. Enjoy!

Aurora on Saturn

Check out this movie courtesy of NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Enjoy!