Easy Astronomy Blog

The dominant gas in Saturn’s atmosphere is hydrogen, but small quantities of helium and methane have also been identified. If life support on Saturn came into discussion, we’d have to agree that the conditions are very different from those on Earth. Saturn has a lower density than water; thus, were there a lake or ocean, Saturn would be vanished in it. Chances for life support remain standing in what Saturn’s moons are concerned, though, but research is in progress, and until more scientific evidence is obtained, everything is pure theory.

Saturn is a very windy place, which is definitely a feature to stand out; just think of wind blowing at about 1,100 miles per hour in in low and central latitudes. But at first glance, nothing seems as spectacular on Saturn as the ring system that surrounds the planet. There are three main ring sectors scientists have classified so far: we can actually speak of three rings in fact, with two brighter and one fainter. The spacecrafts that have studied Saturn and its orbiting celestial bodies indicate that there are thinner rings in the structures we perceive as large, and they are not continuous at all.

The very source of the rings of Saturn remains a mystery for the moment; what renders them so special is that many of them are smaller or larger icebergs, having a significant water quantity trapped in their structure. Other ring areas consist of dust mainly that present characteristics of electrostatic charging, thus enabling the appearance of spokes. Very fine dust particles connect to make these spokes, but they don’t last for long and disappear as quietly as they formed. Then, there is a close relationship between some of the rings and smaller Saturn moons that appear to have an impact on the dust presence in certain areas. Moreover, the revelations science had with the discovery of Saturn’s moons are neither the first nor the last, who knows what will show up next?

Who discovered Saturn? Was this planet known to the ancients or is it modern science that brought it to our attention? To be honest, in the old times people were better informed on the movement of the stars than we are today, and the presence of Saturn must have been noticed even with primitive telescopes. In fact, Galileo is widely known as the scientist who discovered Saturn in 1610, since in his descriptions he even wrote a theory about the rings. According to his words, there were some little ears on each side of the planet, and he thought they were globes. Yet, later on, the white rings were identified and have remained the most spectacular solar system formation ever since.

The globe explanation given by Galileo started from a confusion he didn’t know how to explain. He was the astronomer who discovered Saturn, but at the same time he thought there were three planets, not one. The clarification of the rings’ presence was provided in 1655 when Christiaan Huygens realized that what Galileo referred to as globes were actually rings, but their structure became apparent twenty years later with the discovery made by Giovanni Domenico Cassini. He was the one to initiate the theory that Saturn’s rings were broken or discontinuous, consisting of fragments of different sizes.

Presently we know that the rings consist of ice, rocks and other interplanetary debris, which only contributes to underlying the truth of the early theories. Who discovered Saturn then? In conclusion, we have to admit that the discovery of the solar system has been in progress since we’ve started looking at the stars, and we are far from getting to the bottom. Every year seems to get something new for us to discover: and even if more than forty satellites have been discovered around Saturn, more remain hidden to our eyes for now. Thus the question is not about who discovered Saturn, but what surprises are there in stock for us?

Galileo as the person who discovered Saturn deserves all our respect and consideration, but he is not the only one. The spacecraft which captured the the close image of Saturn for the first time was called Cassini after the astronomer who understood and theorized the pattern of the rings around this planet. Yet, thousands of people unknown to the public are presently involved in space programs; maybe their names are not known to history, but their contribution is just as great and important. With every step we take towards knowing our universe, we claim one more Victory in the exploration of the unknown.

I had a request for more content on Picture of the day so I’m sharing some amazing shots with you here. Click the pictures to see them full size.

Orion’s belt

Explanation : Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie about 1,500 light-years away, born of Orion’s well-studied interstellar clouds. In fact, clouds of gas and dust adrift in this region have intriguing and some surprisingly familiar shapes, including the dark Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula near Alnitak at the lower left. The famous Orion Nebula itself lies off the bottom of this star field that covers about 4.5×3.5 degrees on the sky. This image was taken last month with a digital camera attached to a small telescope in Switzerland, and better matches human color perception than a more detailed composite taken over 15 years ago.

The next one is truely incredible

Saturn’s Hyperion: A Moon with Odd Craters

Explanation : What lies at the bottom of Hyperion’s strange craters? Nobody knows. To help find out, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn swooped past the sponge-textured moon in late 2005 and took an image of unprecedented detail. That image, shown above in false color, shows a remarkable world strewn with strange craters and a generally odd surface. The slight differences in color likely show differences in surface composition. At the bottom of most craters lies some type of unknown dark material. Inspection of the image shows bright features indicating that the dark material might be only tens of meters thick in some places. Hyperion is about 250 kilometers across, rotates chaotically, and has a density so low that it might house a vast system of caverns inside.

Largest Full Moon of 2008

Explanation : As viewed from a well chosen location at sunset, October’s gorgeous Full Moon rose behind Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, California. Captured in this lovely telescopic view, historic Lick Observatory is perched on the mountain’s 4,200 foot summit, observatory and rising Moon momentarily sharing the warm color of filtered sunlight.

Milky Way Road Trip

Explanation : In search of planets and the summer Milky Way, astronomer Tunç Tezel took an evening road trip. Last Saturday, after driving the winding road up Uludag, a mountain near Bursa, Turkey, he was rewarded by this beautiful skyview to the south. Near the center, bright planet Jupiter outshines the city lights below and the stars of the constellation Sagittarius. Above the mountain peaks, an arcing cloud bank seems to lead to the Milky Way’s own cloudy apparition plunging into the distant horizon. In Turkish, Uludag means Great Mountain. Uludag was known in ancient times as the Mysian Olympus.

The liquid found on Saturn’s satellite, Titan represents one of the most exciting and challenging discoveries of our century, since except for Earth, this is the second solar body with liquid on the surface in the system. NASA’s press release informed the world that the open lake structures consisted of liquid hydrocarbons like ethane. In the many close flybys around Saturn and its moons, Cassini probe took a large number of pictures of these planetary system. Scientists came to the conclusion that there could be real oceans of methane, ethane and various other hydrocarbons; the speculation of crude oil components was confirmed by the dark color of the substance revealed on Titan. Nevertheless, the liquid form was not 100% sure until a probe got on Titan in January 2005.

The depth of these pools or lakes of liquid found on Saturn’s satellite could run as deep as some hundred feet. Infrared scanning by Cassini spacecraft allowed an approximation of the features. Yet, the main question remains as whether this planet would ever be suitable for life or not. Liquid found on Saturn’s other moon, Enceladus, seems to be water springing from high pressure geysers fueled by reservoirs just below the cold planet surface. Could such scientific evidence begin a new era in the space mission programs? Though life is difficult to imagine in the unfavorable weather of this cold world, right beneath the surface of Enceladus, all the premises indicate that there are chances for life to develop.

Hence the liquid found on Saturn’s Enceladus set the course for new investigations for life in the solar system. Plus, the other prerequisite for life existence on Enceladus, organic materials, is also met: there is methane, ethane, carbon dioxide and several others. Finally, near the thermal vents, deep down in Saturn’s center, the temperature could also create a favorable background for the appearance and development of life forms.

The liquid found on Saturn’s moons represents probably the best space knowledge achievement in a quarter of a century, since the moment when volcanic activity was identified on one of Jupiter’s satellites. Even if the real origin of the water geysers on Enceladus cannot be observed by means of the cameras on Cassini, there is no doubt about the water sprays and the ice visible in the polar region. An identical alternation of hot and icy patterns specific to commets is present in this Enceladus combination of hot water and icy particles. Then, the only sane conclusion is that water does exist beneath the soil of Enceladus!