Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second
largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Named after the Roman god of
agriculture, Saturn, its astronomical symbol represents the god's sickle.
The planet has 60 moons and is the least dense planet in the
Solar System . Saturn is mostly a massive ball of hydrogen and helium with
thousands of beautiful ringlets, made of chunks of ice and rock. These separate
layers effectively insulate the planet and prevent heat from radiating out efficiently;
this keeps Saturn warm and bright.”
NASA's Cassini orbiter is on an extended mission to explore
Saturn and its rings, its magnetosphere and its moons particularly Titan and
the icy satellites. Cassini also delivered Europe's Huygens probe to its
historic landing on Titan in January 2005. The Huygens probe -- the first
spacecraft landing in the outer solar system and the farthest from Earth. The
318 kg (852 pound) probe was designed to study the smog-like atmosphere of
Saturn's largest moon Titan as it parachuted to the surface. It also carried
cameras to photograph the moon's surface.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first
close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn's
north pole. The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided weather
pattern known as the hexagon ( April 2013).
The meteoroids that NASA's Cassini spacecraft detected
crashing into Saturn's rings are comparable in size to the meteor that hurtled
over Russia in February 2013.
Titan is the only other place in the solar system besides
Earth that has stable liquid on its surface. Scientists think methane is at the
heart of a cycle at Titan that is somewhat similar to the role of water in
Earth's hydrological cycle - causing rain, carving channels and evaporating
from lakes. The lakes must be dominated by methane's sister hydrocarbon ethane,
which evaporates more slowly.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of
NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division
of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
