Explore Worlds
Find Life
Defend Earth
All
All
Sun
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Pretty picture: Rhea, rings, and two little moons
Here's a lovely picture whose components came down from Cassini a few days ago.
Mimas' cold region: another new mystery for Cassini to explore
This new map of Saturn's moon Mimas -- representing data captured by the CIRS thermal infrared spectrometer during Cassini's February 13, 2010 flyby -- is just baffling.
A trio of pretty Cassini pics
It's been a little while since I posted any Cassini pictures just because they were pretty, so here's a few recent ones, produced by amateurs from the images available on the Cassini raw images website.
Titan: Callisto with weather
It's the second time I've posted with this provocative title. This time, it's in response to a new paper published last week in Science.
Helene has two faces
Yes, it's yet another post on Helene! I keep on finding new stuff to post. This time it is a really cool montage assembled by Ian Regan.
Pointing at Helene
I posted already some neat images from Cassini's flyby of Helene last week, and commented on how most of the images from that encounter missed Helene entirely or only caught the moon at one edge of the camera field of view. Here's an example of one of those images.
Cassini's Helene flyby
I was much anticipating Cassini's encounter with Helene on Wednesday.
Cassini at Enceladus: Baghdad's Glowing Canyon
The Cassini mission released a pile of images today from the super-close flyby of Enceladus that happened on November 21.
Hello, snowman! (Cassini observes Iapetus)
I visited the Cassini raw images site today and was pleased to see another couple of sets of images have been captured on Iapetus.
Cassini eyes the eyeball
On Saturday, Cassini flew within 9,500 kilometers of Mimas, the innermost of the medium-sized icy moons of Saturn.
Calypso coolness
Cassini got pretty close to Calypso yesterday, on the way in to Mimas. Calypso is one of the smaller moonlets of Saturn.
Hubble sees both of Saturn's aurorae
Yesterday, the European wing of the Hubble PR machine released this cool image of Saturn and its aurorae, with an associated video.
A Space Carnival (#140) and some new names for Enceladus
This week the Carnival of Space is over at one of my favorite new blogs, Lights in the Dark. Actually it's not so new -- evidently this week marks its first anniversary!
Hooray! Cassini's tour has been extended for SEVEN MORE YEARS!
NASA has just announced that once Cassini's Equinox Mission runs out in June of this year, they will extend it a further seven more years, long enough for the spacecraft to see Saturn through its solstice!!
Cassini Aegaeon and Prometheus awesomeness
There were many, many treats waiting on the Cassini raw images website this morning. Yesterday, Cassini traversed the G ring, taking photos all the way.
Figuring out the shape of Mars (and other places)
An amateur named Bernhard Braun (
Highlights from the January 1, 2010 Cassini imaging data release
The January 1, 2010 Cassini imaging data release includes everything acquired by Cassini from January 1 to March 30, 2009 in all its high-quality glory.
Planetary Society Advent Calendar for December 29: Rhea
Rhea? You might be asking. Rhea? When Saturn has so many more interesting moons? Hear me out.
Planetary Society Advent Calendar for December 27: Prometheus (hot off the presses!)
This one is fresh from the spacecraft! The data were captured yesterday, December 26, by Cassini during its best yet imaging encounter with the small ringmoon Prometheus, and showed up on the Cassini raw images website today.
Planetary Society Advent Calendar for December 26: Titan
Titan is a weird alternate-universe Earth, surprisingly similar to our own planet in some ways, but not at all like our planet in others.