io9
space navigation
Posts Tagged “
Saturn
”
space navigation
space porn
Saturn Thunderstorm Would Fry Earth in a Hurry
When other planets do storms, they do 'em right. The Cassini spacecraft snapped photos of this monster thunderstorm on Saturn that's been raging for five months now, each lightning bolt packing 10,000 times more juice than it's Earthly counterparts. Jupiter's still got the illest storm in the solar system with it's almost four-century old Great Red Spot, but Saturn's storm's not too shabby — it's that blotch down in the lower right-hand part of the planet. That bright spot just below the rings? That's Saturn's moon Tethys looking way bigger than it should because it's in the foreground, just to give you a rough sense of scale. (from NASA)
space porn
Peter Minton is a California teacher who loves to make vector maps in his spare time. His favorite places to map are islands and coastlines, and so when the Cassini-Huygens probe sent back images from Saturn's moon Titan he was happy to discover the geographical features he loves most. There, on the pole of Titan, was a sea full of islands. An unnamed methane sea, but still mappable using vectoring software. This is the map he created, with longitude and latitude lines.
More »
A Vector Map of the Unnamed Methane Sea on Titan
Peter Minton is a California teacher who loves to make vector maps in his spare time. His favorite places to map are islands and coastlines, and so when the Cassini-Huygens probe sent back images from Saturn's moon Titan he was happy to discover the geographical features he loves most. There, on the pole of Titan, was a sea full of islands. An unnamed methane sea, but still mappable using vectoring software. This is the map he created, with longitude and latitude lines.
More »
space porn
NASA may have failed to prove there's an underground ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus, but now scientists claim they've found outstanding new evidence that there may be a vast ocean under the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. In this newly released image, Titan peeks out from behind Saturn while another moon, Tethys, streaks past the planet's shadowy rings. Click through for a gorgeous Titan gallery.
More »
NASA's Probe Will Buzz Titan Landing Site
NASA may have failed to prove there's an underground ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus, but now scientists claim they've found outstanding new evidence that there may be a vast ocean under the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. In this newly released image, Titan peeks out from behind Saturn while another moon, Tethys, streaks past the planet's shadowy rings. Click through for a gorgeous Titan gallery.
More »
space porn
Space probe Cassini dove headlong into the massive, icy plumes of liquid that spew from the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It managed to get some amazing images of the southern pole of the moon (pictured here), but sadly a mysterious software glitch prevented it from transmitting data about the moon jizz back to Earth.
More »
Failed Mission to Suck Up Moon Goo Results in Gorgeous Photos
Space probe Cassini dove headlong into the massive, icy plumes of liquid that spew from the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. It managed to get some amazing images of the southern pole of the moon (pictured here), but sadly a mysterious software glitch prevented it from transmitting data about the moon jizz back to Earth.
More »
space porn
The Cassini Space Probe will fly dangerously close to Saturn's moon Enceladus tomorrow, skirting along the edge of the moon's huge geysers to sample water-ice, dust and gas from their plumes. Cassini's particle analyzers will study the composition of the plumes in the hope of settling, once and for all, whether they may come from a buried ocean. At its closest approach, Cassini will only be about 30 miles from the moon, and the daredevil stunt requires amazing technical finesse. The image above is an artist's conception of the flyby. Click through for two gorgeous photos of Enceladus' crazy fountains.
More »
Space Probe Will Have Near-Collision With Saturn Moon
The Cassini Space Probe will fly dangerously close to Saturn's moon Enceladus tomorrow, skirting along the edge of the moon's huge geysers to sample water-ice, dust and gas from their plumes. Cassini's particle analyzers will study the composition of the plumes in the hope of settling, once and for all, whether they may come from a buried ocean. At its closest approach, Cassini will only be about 30 miles from the moon, and the daredevil stunt requires amazing technical finesse. The image above is an artist's conception of the flyby. Click through for two gorgeous photos of Enceladus' crazy fountains.
More »
alternate history
NASA's Secret Mission to Saturn in Nuke-Powered Ships
Back in the mid-twentieth century, a bunch of NASA engineers had a dream — a highly-classified dream — about taking a nuclear-powered rocked to Saturn. They even went so far as to plan the entire device, create design specs and concept art (some of it pictured here), and name it "Project Orion." Now science historian George Dyson has unearthed a bunch of the recently re-classified papers related to Project Orion, which his father Freeman Dyson was involved in, and put them together into a short, entertaining presentation. Essentially he's unearthed an alternate history of the space program that might have been if NASA hadn't canceled it. Check out his entertaining story below. More »
space porn
Haze-covered Titan, a moon of Saturn with a dense, cloudy atmosphere, was mapped extensively by the recent Cassini-Huygens space probe. The probe sent back beautiful space vistas like this one, whereTitan is the glowing globe behind Saturn's rings, and tiny moon Epimetheus is the small body you see floating above it. The space probe also gave up-close view of the surface of this moon, perhaps most famous for being the place where the aliens of 2001 have left a second monolith. What you may not have known is that the surface of Titan is ridged with sand dunes. Want to see them?
More »
Titan Rises Behind Saturn's Rings
Haze-covered Titan, a moon of Saturn with a dense, cloudy atmosphere, was mapped extensively by the recent Cassini-Huygens space probe. The probe sent back beautiful space vistas like this one, whereTitan is the glowing globe behind Saturn's rings, and tiny moon Epimetheus is the small body you see floating above it. The space probe also gave up-close view of the surface of this moon, perhaps most famous for being the place where the aliens of 2001 have left a second monolith. What you may not have known is that the surface of Titan is ridged with sand dunes. Want to see them?
More »
space porn
This is a total eclipse of the sun by Saturn, as seen by NASA's Cassini space probe. I totally want this image painted on black velvet. This famous image is just one of the photos that Cassini Imaging Team leader Carolyn Porco showed off during her talk about Saturn and its moons, now online at TED. [TED, via Runaway Pancake]
Saturn Blocks Out The Sunlight
This is a total eclipse of the sun by Saturn, as seen by NASA's Cassini space probe. I totally want this image painted on black velvet. This famous image is just one of the photos that Cassini Imaging Team leader Carolyn Porco showed off during her talk about Saturn and its moons, now online at TED. [TED, via Runaway Pancake]
space porn
Is There Life On Saturn's Moon?
Do these water jets come from an underground ocean orbiting Saturn? If so, it could nurture the only extraterrestrial life-forms in our solar system. But one scientist says that water is too pure to come from a buried ocean on Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. More »
science porn
You can vote for the sexiest image of Saturn and its moons from the Cassini space probe, until Dec. 30. You even get to rate every space photo from 1 to 10, bringing a whole new meaning to "science porn." This pic shows the "dragon storm" on Saturn, a disturbance so fierce it kicked up radio waves.
Saturn: Hot Or Not?
You can vote for the sexiest image of Saturn and its moons from the Cassini space probe, until Dec. 30. You even get to rate every space photo from 1 to 10, bringing a whole new meaning to "science porn." This pic shows the "dragon storm" on Saturn, a disturbance so fierce it kicked up radio waves.
space porn
Atlas and Pan, two of Saturn's moons, look like flying saucers in these new images from the Cassini space probe. The cause? Unique equatorial ridges. Image by Peter Thomas and Carolyn Porco for CICLOPS.
Flying Saucers Are Orbiting Saturn Right Now
Atlas and Pan, two of Saturn's moons, look like flying saucers in these new images from the Cassini space probe. The cause? Unique equatorial ridges. Image by Peter Thomas and Carolyn Porco for CICLOPS.
