Spacecraft that have been to Saturn and other planets

In the past only three probes have visited the ringed planet with the current mission being the Cassini-Huygens. There are no further plans to visit Saturn.

Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft that was launched in May of 1973. The encounter of Jupiter was in December of 1974 and a visit of Saturn occurred in September of 1979. Contact was lost in November of 1995.

The most infamous of all probes, the Voyager series, was also designed to study the gas giants. Voyager 2 (launched before Voyager 1) was launched in August of 1977. The Jupiter flyby was in July 1979, the Saturn flyby was in August 1981, the Uranus flyby was in January 1986, and the Neptune flyby was in August 1989. The Voyager 2 has left the Solar System but is still in operation.

The Voyager 1 probe, launched in September of 1977, would only visit Jupiter and Saturn. The Voyager 2 probe was launched first after discovering the orbital positions of all four gas giants would allow the probes visit.Voyage 1 was launched as planned.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a two part, joint venture with the European Space Agency. The mission consists of:
The Cassini orbiter
The Huygens probe

The Cassini orbiter is NASA's portion of the mission and it carried the ESA's Huygens probes to Titan.

The probe was launched on October 15, 1997 and arrived for orbital insertion on July 1, 2004. The Huygens probe was released on December 24, 2004 and descended Titan's atmosphere and landed on January 14, 2005.

The Ring discoverer

Many years later, in 1659, a Dutch astronomer named Christiaan Huygens solved the mystery of Saturn's "arms." Because of improved telescope optics, he correctly deduced that the "arms" were actually a ring system. Huygens also discovered Saturn's moon, Titan, and for this reason, the probe exploring Titan is named after him.

Christiaan Huygens

Robert Hooke was another early observer of the rings of Saturn, and noted the casting of shadows on the rings.

Robert Hooke

    Robert Hooke drawing of Saturn shadow(rings)

In 1675, Giovanni Domenico Cassini determined that Saturn's ring was composed of multiple smaller rings with gaps between them; the largest of these gaps was later named the Cassini Division. This division is a 4,800 km-wide region between the A ring and B ring.

Giovanni Domenico Cassini

        Giovanni Domenico Cassini drawing of Saturn ring

In 1787, Pierre-Simon Laplace suggested that the rings were composed of a large number of solid ringlets

Pierre-Simon Laplace

In 1859, James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that the rings could not be solid or they would become unstable and break apart. He proposed that the rings must be composed of numerous small particles, all independently orbiting Saturn.

Sodia Kovalevskava found that Saturn's rings cannot be liquid ring-shaped bodies.

Maxwell's theory was proven to be valid in 1895 through spectroscopic studies of the rings carried out by James Keeler  of Allegheny Observatory and Aristarkh Belopolsky of Pulkovo Observatory.

References

The planets: National Geographic website: http://science.nationalgeographic.com/science/space/planets/

Space website:http://www.space.com/16080-solar-system-planets.html

Enchanted Learning website: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/

Fraser Cain Website: http://www.universetoday.com/15502/planets-in-the-solar-system/

About Saturn: Chris Jones websites: http://space-facts.com/saturn/

NASA website: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Saturn


Uniques Features:Fraser Cain website: http://www.universetoday.com/15418/interesting-facts-about-saturn/


Who found Saturn?: Fraser Cain Website http://www.universetoday.com/15315/discovery-of-saturn/

The ring discoverer:
The First Professional Scientist: Robert Hooke and the Royal Society of London: http://books.google.com.my/books?id=tJu97S3BtGIC&pg=PA204&lpg=PA204&dq=robert+hooke+saturn+rings&source=bl&ots=fvehAumyIF&sig=dlfl1YOBghGn-yf-B2bhE6fpyi4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Vqz2U4y9HNKfugTI3YHYBw&ved=0CGcQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=robert%20hooke%20saturn%20rings&f=false

http://www.kidsastronomy.com/saturn-rings.htm


http://moonphases.info/How-was-Saturns-rings-discovered.html

Saturn's Moons: Jet Propulasion Laboratory website: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moons/

NASA Website: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Display=Sats&Object=Saturn

Enchanted learning website:http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/saturn/saturnmoons.shtml

Saturn's Rings: Jet Propulasion Laboratory website: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm?SciencePageID=55

http://www.space.com/23235-rings-of-saturn.html

http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/saturn/rings.html

Spacecraft that have been to Saturn and other planets:

Fraser Cain Website: http://www.universetoday.com/15312/how-long-does-it-take-to-get-to-saturn/

NASA website: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/#.U_bBc_mSwXg

Earth versus Saturn: National Aeronautics and Space Administration website: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/compchart.cfm?Object1=Saturn


Fraser Cain Website: http://www.universetoday.com/24161/saturn-compared-to-earth/

Earth versus Saturn

Comparison between Earth and Saturn.

There are many differences between Earth and Saturn. Firstly, Earth is the third planet from the Sun whereas Saturn is the sixth planet. Secondly, Saturn is much bigger than Earth. Saturn’s equatorial diameter is 120,536 km, which is about 9.5 times bigger than that of Earth.

Moreover,Saturn’s surface area is 83 times that of Earth. When comparing Earth and Saturn, the former is the densest planet of the two. Furthermore, Earth is the only place in the Solar system where life is seen. Earth is also the only planet that has liquid water in it. Amazingly, Earth has only one moon whereas Saturn has more moons. Next, unlike earth, Saturn has beautiful rings round it. When it comes to fast rotation Saturn won it all as, Saturn takes about 30 long years to go round the Sun once. In rotation, Earth takes more time. While earth takes 24 hours, Saturn takes about 10 Hours and 32 minutes to make one rotation.

Saturn's Moons

Saturn has 18 known moons. It is possible that Cassini will discover more. Saturn's moons range in size from smaller than an asteroid to larger than the planet Mercury. More moons of greater variety orbit Saturn than any other planet. They are listed first is Atlas, Calypso, Dione, Enceladus, Epimetheus, Helene, Hyperion, Iapetus, Janus, Mimas, Pan, Pandora, Phoebe, Prometheus, Rhea, Telesto, Tethys, and Titan.

All these moons (plus any new ones found) will be studied by Cassini, but the most extensive study will be the Huygens probe on Titan.

Titan: The only Saturn moon that has ever had a probe land on it: Huygens, a lander carried to the hazy world by the spacecraft Cassini. Titan’s “Earth-like processes” and thick atmosphere are among the things that make this world stand out to scientists. Ethane and methane rains from the atmosphere and flows on the surface.

A fish-eye view of Titan’s surface from the European Space Agency’s Huygens lander in January 2005. Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Enceladus: An extremely reflective moon because it is made up of water ice. It’s also quite cold at minus 330 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 201 degrees Celsius). The moon has at least five different kinds of terrain, a “young” geological surface of less than 100 million years, and a possible liquid interior. The moon is also known for its ice plumes. 

Rhea: Rhea has at least two major sections: bright craters with craters larger than 25 miles (40 kilometers), and a second section with smaller craters. “This difference may indicate there was a major resurfacing event some time in Rhea’s history,” NASA stated. 

Mimas: Some people jokingly call it a “Death Star” because of the crater in its surface that resembles the machine from the Star Wars universe. The 88-mile (140-kilometer) Herschel Crater is about a third the diameter of the moon itself. The huge impact also could have created fractures (chasmata) on the moon’s opposing side. There are in fact craters throughout the moon’s small surface, making it among the most pockmarked in the Solar System. 

A view of Saturn’s moon Mimas from the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Pan: Considered a “shepherd satellite” as it orbits within the Encke Gap of Saturn’s A ring and keeps the gap from being filled in with ring material. Its motions also make stripes (“wakes”) in the rings on either side of it. Pictures obtained at a distance show it looks something like a walnut.

Tethys: An airless moon that has a huge impact crater (called Odyssey Crater, 250 miles or 400 kilometers in diameter) — about two-fifths of Tethys’ diameter. It also has a large valley called Ithaca Chasma, which is 62 miles (100 kilometers) wide.

Dione: A moon that appears to have spun about 180 degrees, perhaps due to a large impact. It’s covered in canyons, cracking and craters and is coated from dust in the E-ring that originally came from Enceladus.

Saturn Rings

The Rings



Saturn's rings are the most distinctive feature of the planet. At one time, astronomers believed that the rings were uniform, but they now know that is not the case. Saturn's rings are actually composed of a collection of particles that range in size from a grain of sand to a car. The rings are comprised of ice and rock particles. The rings are divided into 7 major ring divisions and possess intricate structure and complex gravitational interactions.

The origin of Saturn's rings is a mystery. Scientists hope that data from Cassini will shed some light on the issue. In addition, understanding the origin of Saturn's rings may help scientists also understand the origin of the Solar System. Saturn and its ring system are thought to be similar to the setup of the early Solar System.

Who found Saturn?

Galileo Galilei was the first to observe Saturn with a telescope in 1610. Because of the crudeness of his telescope, he couldn't determine what the rings were. He incorrectly guessed that there were two large moons on either side of Saturn. Two years later when he viewed Saturn again, the "moons" had disappeared. We know now this is because Galileo was viewing the rings edge-on so that they were invisible, but at the time it was very confusing to Galileo. After another two years, Galileo viewed Saturn again and found that the "moons" had returned. He concluded that the rings were "arms" of some sort.

Galileo & his drawings 

Top drawing: Galileo's drawing of Saturn, 1610 

Bottom drawing: Galileo's drawing of Saturn, 1616 

A few years after Huygens' discoveries, an Italian-French astronomer by the name of Jean- Dominique Cassini discovered 4 other major moons of Saturn: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, and Dione. In 1675, Cassini discovered a narrow gap that splits Saturn's ring system into two parts, and the gap has since been known as the "Cassini Division." Because of his numerous contributions to our knowledge about the planet Saturn, Cassini was chosen as the name of the spacecraft flying to Saturn.

Jean-Dominique Cassini

Other major discoveries came later. During the 19th century, J.E. Keeler showed that the ring system is not a uniform sheet but actually comprised of small particles. Most recently, the Voyager spacecrafts (visiting in 1980-81) made discoveries about the composition and interaction of the rings.

The Planets.

What is a planet actually? Does an asteroid a planet? Nope. Does a comet a planet? Nope. A planet simply meant a body in orbit around the Sun, that reflected sunlight, and was not a planetary moon, asteroid, or comet.

There are two categories for planets based on their physical characteristics: the terrestrial planets and the gas giants.

Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are a terrestrial planets and these planets are the closest to the sun. Their characteristics is dense and rocky composition.

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune are gas giant planet that are found in the outer solar system. Their characteristics is massiveness and gaseous composition. 

Let us view the planets according to numbers. 
First is Mercury the nearest neighbor to the sun.

Mercury

Second is Venus which is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Venus

Third is of course our home sweet home, Earth.

Earth

Fourth planet is Mars which is the second smallest planet in the Solar System, after Mercury.

Mars

Fifth is Jupiter which is the largest planet in the Solar System.

Jupiter

The sixth planet is of course my all time favorite, Saturn.

Saturn

The seventh planet is the blue planet that is called Uranus.

Uranus

The eighth planet is Neptune which is the farthest planet from the Sun.

Neptune

Introduction

Assalamualaikum w.b.t to all readers.

I am Nurul Safiani bt Nor Kamazaman from DEC 5 D and I am one of the student's in Kolej Professional MARA Indera Mahkota. The birth of this blog happens when it became one of my assignments in the subject that I take which is Digital and Mobile Communication subject, code ITE 3563 July-Dec 2014. The themes are focus on unique things, personality, creature, place, creation or culture in the world. I choose to focus on unique thing and my topic is the Uniqueness of Planet Saturn.


Objective:

The objective of this blog is to share and spread information about the uniqueness of the planet Saturn and why its uniqueness draws my attention. Moreover, it also can show how beautiful and majestic the Saturn is. Furthermore, it also can draw people attention to find out more about the outer space. Next, it also attract viewers to knows the stars that we always look at night and one of them are planet Saturn.

About Saturn

Saturn planet

Saturn is the farthest planet from Earth visible to the naked human eye. The yellow and gold bands seen in Saturn's atmosphere are the result of super-fast winds in the upper atmosphere, which can reach up to 1,100 mph (1,800 kph) around its equator, combined with heat rising from the planet's interior.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second largest planet in the solar system. Although the other gas giants in the solar system — Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune — also have rings, those of Saturn are without a doubt the most extraordinary.

Saturn spins faster than any other planet except Jupiter, completing a rotation roughly every 10-and-a-half hours. This rapid spinning causes Saturn to bulge at its equator and flatten at its poles — the planet is 8,000 miles (13,000 km) wider at its equator than between the poles.

Saturn is a gas giant made up mostly of hydrogen and helium. Saturn is big enough to hold more than 760 Earths, and is more massive than any other planet except Jupiter, roughly 95 times Earth's mass. However, Saturn has the lowest density of all the planets, and is the only one less dense than water making it like a titanic float in the sea water.

Saturn's most recent curiosity may be the giant hexagon circling its north pole, with each of its sides nearly 7,500 miles (12,500 km) across — big enough to fit nearly four Earths inside. Thermal images show it reaches some 60 miles (100 km) down into the planet's atmosphere. It remains uncertain what causes it.

Unique Features

Every planets have its own uniqueness and for example earth is able to occupied life. Saturn does not have earth uniqueness but as a gaseous planet which is least dense, Saturn will be like a titanic that can float in the water. 

Moreover, it beautiful ring system makes Saturn like a lady with jewelry. It does not have just one or two ring but four sections for exact. Every rings that circle around Saturn are named by alphabet. On the Voyager mission, F was discovered and it is the farthest out. Next is the A section which is half the diameter of the entire system. When Cassini Division satellite arrive at Saturn, it capture a large gap between A and B sections. B has raised parts that is cause by Saturn's magnetism. In between B and C there is a small divison called Enck's Division but the C is most likely transparent.    

Saturn rings

The rings are usually occupied with water ice and a trace component of rocky material. But like other gas giants planets, Saturn's rings system would not last long as most of the rings will fall into the planet's atmosphere. 

Furthermore this giant planet also able to generates heat. Its average temperature is approximately about 80 K. The gases in Saturn's atmosphere are slowly separating, with the lighter gas rising up and the heavier gas falling down. As this happens, friction between the molecules heats the gas, accounting for the extra heat.

Amazingly when NASA’s Cassini spacecraft recently pass through Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, it discovered ice geysers blasting out of Enceladus’ southern pole. This fascinating discovery means that there are some process that is keeping the moon warm enough so that water can remain a liquid underneath the surface. This means that it is probably occupied with living things! 

Water vapour geysers on Enceladus

Well other than Enceladus, Saturn itself are not able to sustain life because it has no oxygen and has poisonous gases in which no life can survive. Plus the pressure is a lot greater than Earth.