Blogs & Articles

Awesome Cassini mutual event movies

Emily Lakdawalla • December 23, 2009

I love posting animations of Cassini images that I compose from frames grabbed from the mission's raw images website, but they are shoddy compared to the versions that eventually come out from the mission's imaging team.

Saturn global view from Cassini, rings open

Planetary Society Advent Calendar for December 12: Saturn

Emily Lakdawalla • December 12, 2009

Cassini's amazing cameras have set a new standard for the quality, sharpness, resolution, beautiful color, and all-around spectacularness of images returned from the outer solar system.

Saturn's aurora, even better than before

Emily Lakdawalla • November 24, 2009

The Cassini imaging team have posted their own processed and captioned version of the Saturn's aurora movie that I posted a preview of about six weeks ago, and it was worth the wait.

Four moons and a ring

Emily Lakdawalla • November 10, 2009

Thanks to Mike Malaska for the tip on this one. The image is part of an animation that ends with Rhea transiting Saturn.

Saturn's north polar hexagon (animation)

Planetary Radio Q and A: Saturn's Hexagon

Emily Lakdawalla • November 04, 2009

On "Questions and Answers" I answered this question: "How do they explain the hexagon near Saturn's north pole?"

Planetary Radio Q and A: Not-so-gassy giants

Emily Lakdawalla • November 04, 2009

On Planetary Radio's "Questions and Answers" I answered this question: "I read that Uranus got its tilt when it was hit by another object. What does it mean for a ball of gas to be hit -- wouldn't another object just pass through it?"

Spinning spokes in Saturn's rings

Emily Lakdawalla • October 21, 2009

Here's a neat animation captured last month by Cassini and assembled by Mike Malaska: spokes in Saturn's B ring.

Saturn shadows shift with the seasons

Emily Lakdawalla • October 19, 2009

So many goodies on the Cassini raw images website lately! I am especially excited when Cassini takes photos through red, green, and blue filters so that it's possible to create views that look roughly like what you'd see with your own eyes.

A brief word on Saturn's radius

Emily Lakdawalla • October 15, 2009

I've had two people write in to correct my Phoebe ring post from yesterday.

The Phoebe ring

Emily Lakdawalla • October 14, 2009

Last week, planetary astronomers Anne Verbiscer, Michael Skrutskie, and Doug Hamilton published a paper in Nature succinctly titled "Saturn's Largest Ring." In the paper, they announce the discovery, using the Spitzer infrared space telescope, of a gargantuan, previously unseen ring around Saturn, encompassing the orbit of Phoebe.

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