This is not a delicious 台湾水餃子 (Taiwanese boiled dumpling) drifting through space, no matter how much it may look like it. It is, in fact, one of Saturn’s moons! This is Pan. A tiny moon, only 35 km in diameter, … Continue reading
A few days ago, the Cassini spacecraft, 1.61 billion kilometres away in orbit around Saturn, made its closest ever pass of Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus. It flew by around 49 km above Enceladus’ south pole – perilously close by astronomical standards. … Continue reading
This is a completely gratutous Saturn system appreciation post. Because Saturn. Images found courtesy of wanderingspace.net
Enceladus is, without question, one of the most interesting locations in our solar system, and for a lot of reasons. Quite simply, this tiny Cronian moon is a mystery. We know what we see, but we have utterly no idea … Continue reading
As you may remember me saying before, Titan is not exactly like the Caribbean. But that isn’t to say that it’s not Earth-like. Indeed, the most fascinating thing about Titan is that in many ways, it’s very Earth-like indeed. To … Continue reading
This is a completely gratuitous Saturn appreciation post. Just because. All image credits: NASA/ESA
Give it a few hundred years, and I’m quite sure Saturn is destined to be one of the great tourist attractions of our solar system. And here’s why! This breathtaking image of our Solar system’s second largest planet shows Saturn … Continue reading
Taking a look at our solar system, there are a few traits shared by numerous planets. One of these is the curious phenomenon of atmospheric superrotation. Planets with a dense atmosphere seem to have a constant prevailing wind in one … Continue reading
Gas giants are turbulent places. While Jupiter is famous for its great red spot, a storm which is so large that we can see it from here on Earth, Saturn too is quite a stormy world. And every now and … Continue reading
Iapetus, Saturn’s third largest moon, is a total enigma. For a start, it’s a strange walnut shape. Secondly, it seems to have a surface purely rendered in black and white. It looks a bit like snow on a mountaintop back … Continue reading
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Never stop dreaming...
