Tag Archives: moons

NASA has Discovered an Ocean of Water Inside Saturn’s Moon, Enceladus

April 3rd, 2014 | Space

enceladus - ocean of water

The Cassini spacecraft has just found evidence for an ocean of liquid water inside Saturn’s moon, Enceladus. Of course, this is exciting news because we know that water is an essential agent for all biochemistry on Earth. In other words, the best places to search for alien life in our solar system contain some source of liquid water (i.e. Europa).

The ocean was found using gravitational measurements from the spacecraft.  According to Sami Asmar of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.: “The way we deduce gravity variations is a concept in physics called the Doppler Effect, the same principle used with a speed-measuring radar gun. As the spacecraft flies by Enceladus, its velocity is perturbed by an amount that depends on variations in the gravity field that we’re trying to measure.
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We see the change in velocity as a change in radio frequency, received at our ground stations here all the way across the solar system.
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Enceladus is just one of 52 named moons that orbit Saturn.

Saturn moons

There may be an ocean of alien life swimming around underneath the surface of Enceladus, but we’ll never know until we can drill into the moon.
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A similar project is being planned for Europa sometime in the 2030’s.

Read more at NASA.

-RSB

Cassini’s Saturn

December 19th, 2012 | Space

The Cassini space probe was launched back in 1997 and made it to Saturn in 2004 after an interplanetary voyage which included flybys of Venus and Jupiter.  I recently stumbled across this article on the Huffington Post, and I decided it might be a good time to share my favorite images from the Saturn portion of Cassini’s journey.

Cassini Saturn 1

“A Splendor Seldom Seen

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has delivered a glorious view of Saturn, taken while the spacecraft was in Saturn’s shadow. The cameras were turned toward Saturn and the sun so that the planet and rings are backlit. (The sun is behind the planet, which is shielding the cameras from direct sunlight.) In addition to the visual splendor, this special, very-high-phase viewing geometry lets scientists study ring and atmosphere phenomena not easily seen at a lower phase.

Cassini Saturn 2

Colorful Colossi and Changing Hues

A giant of a moon appears before a giant of a planet undergoing seasonal changes in this natural color view of Titan and Saturn from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, measures 3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers, across and is larger than the planet Mercury. Cassini scientists have been watching the moon’s south pole since a vortex appeared in its atmosphere in 2012. See PIA14919 and PIA14920 to learn more about this mass of swirling gas around the pole in the atmosphere of the moon.
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IDL TIFF file

Peeping Mimas

Saturn’s moon Mimas peeps out from behind the larger moon Dione in this view from the Cassini spacecraft.

Mimas (246 miles, or 396 kilometers across) is near the bottom center of the image. Saturn’s rings are also visible in the top right.

Cassini Saturn 4

Angling Saturn

The Cassini spacecraft takes an angled view toward Saturn, showing the southern reaches of the planet with the rings on a dramatic diagonal.

The moon Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers across) appears as a small, bright speck in the lower left of the image.

Cassini Saturn 5

Strong Jet in False Colors

A particularly strong jet stream churns through Saturn’s northern hemisphere in this false-color view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.

Cassini Saturn 6

Saturn’s North Pole, Wide View

This image from NASA’s Cassini mission was taken on Nov. 27, 2012, with Cassini’s wide-angle imaging camera. The camera was pointing toward Saturn from approximately 233,742 miles (376,171 kilometers) away.
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Cassini Saturn 7

Storm Tail in False Color

This false-color mosaic from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows the tail of Saturn’s huge northern storm.

Cassini Saturn 8

Wispy Dione

This raw image of Saturn’s moon Dione taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows the fractured region known as “wispy terrain.” The image was obtained on Dec. 20, 2010, from a distance of about 107,000 kilometers (66,000 miles).
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Cassini Saturn 9

Majestic Saturn, in the Infrared

This false-color composite image, constructed from data obtained by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows Saturn’s rings and southern hemisphere.”

To learn more about Saturn, head to the wiki.

-RSB

[All images and captions credited to NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI]

10 Moons

January 9th, 2012 | Space

Saturn’s Rhea

Jupiter’s Europa

Jupiter’s Callisto

Jupiter’s Io

Earth’s Moon Transiting The Sun

Saturn’s Mimas – aka Death Star

Mars’ Phobos

Neptune’s Triton

Uranus’ Oberon

Jupiter’s Ganymede

Check out this collection of spectacular moon photos I saw on the Mother Nature Network, and learn a bit about our solar system in the process.  A lot of the photos have different filters to make them look extra special, but they are interesting nonetheless.  I thought it would be cool to learn all of the moons of the solar system, but I found out there are more than 170, so that could be quite challenging.  Did you know Jupiter, alone, has 63 moons!?

-RSB