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Cassini Update

Candice Hansen
Published: September 22, 2006

An update on findings from Cassini's latest flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan.

Candice Hansen, Titan discipline scientist.

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These two views of Saturn's moon Titan show the southern polar vortex, a huge, swirling cloud that was first observed by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2012.
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These two views of Saturn's moon Titan show the southern polar vortex
Spectral Map of Titan with Polar Vortex
This frame from an animation of the dwarf planet Ceres was made by combining images taken by the Dawn spacecraft on January 25, 2015. These images of Ceres, and they represent the highest-resolutio...
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Ceres Sharper Than Ever (Animation)
Ceres Sharper Than Ever (Animation)
RCW 108 is a region where stars are actively forming within the Milky Way galaxy about 4,000 light years from Earth.
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Color photo of star cluster embedded in a cloud of molecular hydrogen
Massive Young Stars Trigger Stellar Birth
The Saturn moon Mimas is much smaller than Rhea, but the geometry of this scene exaggerates the actual differences in size. Here, Mimas is on the opposite side of the rings from Rhea and Cassini. M...
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Dione and Rhea together near the rings
Misleading Perspective
Some of Saturn's satellites lie within the rings while others are outside the ring system. This slide illustrates the relationship between satellites and rings around Saturn. The ring plane crossin...
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Saturn Systems Road Map
Saturn Systems Road Map
Entering Saturn's Magnetosphere with a Boom July 1, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06347 This graph illustrates the series of sonic booms that...
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Entering Saturn's Magnetosphere with a Boom
Entering Saturn's Magnetosphere with a Boom
Dark Storms, Bright Clouds September 8, 2004 Full-Res: PIA06472 Flecks of bright cloud and several dark storms dominate Saturn's sout...
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Dark Storms, Bright Clouds
Dark Storms, Bright Clouds
During a recent pass of Saturn's moon Titan, one of more than 40 during Cassini's planned four-year mission, the spacecraft acquired this infrared view of the bright Xanadu region and the moon's so...
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Infrared view of Titan's bright Xanadu region
Clues in the Bright and Dark
These images from NASA's Dawn spacecraft, located in asteroid Vesta's Marcia quadrangle, in Vesta's northern hemisphere, demonstrate a special analytical technique, which results in shadowed areas ...
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Revealing Shadows 4
Revealing Shadows 4
These two natural color images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft show the changing appearance of Saturn's north polar region between 2012 and 2016.
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Side by side images of the hexagon on Saturn's north pole
Changing Colors in Saturn's North
Beyond the ansa of Saturn's rings, a crescent Rhea completes this ring-and-moon composition. Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is near the middle of the bottom of the image. This view l...
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Rhea and Saturn's rings
Rhea and Rings
This image made with data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows pit chains on dwarf planet Ceres called Samhain Catenae.
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Samhain Catenae on Ceres
Samhain Catenae on Ceres
This montage of images of the Saturnian System was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980. This artist's arrangement ...
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The Saturn System
The Saturn System
Designated Northwest Africa (NWA) 7034, and nicknamed "Black Beauty," this Martian meteorite weighs approximately 11 ounces (320 grams). 
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Small, black meteorite held between thumb and finger.
"Black Beauty" Mars Meteorite
NASA's Dawn spacecraft successfully observed Ceres at opposition on April 29, 2017, taking images from a position exactly between the sun and Ceres' surface.
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NASA's Dawn spacecraft successfully observed Ceres at opposition on April 29, 2017, taking images from a position exactly between the sun and Ceres' surface.
Ceres During 'Opposition Surge'
Prometheus draws a fresh streamer of material from the F ring as it passes the ring's interior edge. The streamer will continuously shear out as it orbits the planet, becoming more elongated and in...
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Prometheus draws a fresh streamer of material from the F ring
Streamer Genesis
N00151577.jpg was taken on February 13, 2010 and received on Earth February 15, 2010. The camera was pointing toward MIMAS at approximately 40,404 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the...
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Raw image of Mimas close-up
Mimas Flyby Raw Image 2
Saturn's shepherd moons gravitationally herd the F ring's particles into a narrow thread. The structure seen in the inner edge of the F ring in this wide-angle view is similar to that seen in the ...
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Prometheus, Pandora and the F ring
Confining Moons
On a clear day on Mars, you can see tens of thousands of rocks.
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On a clear day on Mars, you can see tens of thousands of rocks.
Mars Rocky Horizon
Terrestrial planets (shown in the top row) are compared with the Solar System's largest satellites. Titan is the second-largest satellite in the solar system. Only Jupiter's satellite Ganymede is l...
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Titan's Relative Size
Titan's Relative Size
At 1,528 kilometers (950 miles) in diameter, Rhea is the second largest satellite of Saturn. Only Titan is larger. Bright wispy streaks cover one hemisphere of Rhea.
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Rhea
Rhea
The Cassini spacecraft provides a stunning view of the Odysseus impact basin on Tethys. The enormous basin is 450 kilometers (280 miles) wide. The medium-sized crater Melanthius is seen along the ...
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the Odysseus impact basin on Tethys
Magnificent Scars
+ View Infrared + View Infrared (with labels) This infrared image taken by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows Hotei Arcus, a region on Saturn's moon T...
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Infrared view of Titan's Hotei Arcus
Hotei Arcus in Infrared
The waxing Moon rises over a ridge in the Wasatch Mountains, Utah.
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Moon in daylight rising over rocky ridge.
Day Moon Ridge
This global map of Saturn’s moon Iapetus was created using images taken during Cassini spacecraft flybys, with Voyager images filling in the gaps in Cassini's coverage. Iapetus is the moon of Sa...
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Global map of Iapetus May 2008
Map of Iapetus - May 2008

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