Cosma Home > Communication > Knowledge > Realm > Physical > Universe > Solar System > Saturn

Spotlight

This 360° video describes Cassini’s “Grand Finale” and the mission’s accomplishments.

Here’s a more recent 2 minute video released by NASA/JPL on September 8th about the conclusion of the mission.

NASA/JPL Grand Finale Toolkit (timeline, status)
Cassini at Saturn YouTube Channel
Exploration of Saturn (Wikipedia)

Note: Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Pages

Physical Realm
Universe Astronomical Instrument
Galaxy Milky Way, Andromeda
Planetary System Star, Brown Dwarf, Planet, Moon

Solar System Sun
Terrestrial Planet Mercury, Venus, Earth (Moon), Mars
Asteroid Belt Ceres, Vesta
Jovian Planet Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Trans-Neptunian Object
Kuiper Belt Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
Scattered Disc Eris, Sedna, Planet X
Oort Cloud Etc. Scholz’s Star
Small Body Comet, Centaur, Asteroid

Posts

Get Lost in Space! (9/14/2018) - Way back in August, in anticipation of the start of a new school year, I set out to update the pages on this site related to space. Those pages tend to be popular among the teachers and students who use Cosma, and I happen to enjoy updating them, too. It sounded like a short, fun … Continue reading Get Lost in Space!
Octopuses from Space! (5/20/2018) - Did you hear the one about the octopuses from space? It sounds like the title of a cheesy sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? But it isn’t, this time, or at least, yet. Instead, it’s actually an oddball theory that’s been put forth in a recently published “scientific” article that’s getting quite a lot of buzz in … Continue reading Octopuses from Space!
NASA’s Excellent Adventures (9/13/2017) - NOTE: This post was updated on the morning of September 15th, see new videos below. NASA is always up to something fascinating. There are so many milestones and discoveries, it’s hard to resist featuring them in every post. However, there are a few events that definitely deserve special attention right now. First, August 20th and … Continue reading NASA’s Excellent Adventures
Cassini’s Finale (5/1/2017) - The Cassini space probe has got a serious date with Saturn coming up in the Fall on September 15th, but she’s got a very busy schedule between now and then making a series of dives through the space between Saturn and its rings. The first dive of took place last week (Wednesday, April 26th). Here’s … Continue reading Cassini’s Finale

Resources

These are organized by a classification scheme developed exclusively for Cosma. More…

General

Portal

Solar System Exploration: Saturn (NASA)
Saturn Portal (Wikipedia)

Dictionary

Saturn : the planet sixth in order from the sun — Webster

OneLook, Free Dictionary, Wiktionary, Urban Dictionary

Encyclopedia

Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. Although it has only one-eighth the average density of Earth, with its larger volume Saturn is just over 95 times more massive. Saturn is named after the Roman god of agriculture; its astronomical symbol (♄) represents the god’s sickle. — Wikipedia

Saturn (Eric Weisstein’s World of Astronomy, Wolfram Research)
Encyclopædia Britannica

Introduction

Note: This is a 360° Video — press and hold to explore it!

Search

WolframAlpha

Science

Saturn’s famous hexagon may tower above the clouds (European Space Agency)
A Bizarre Structure Has Been Detected Towering High Above Saturn’s Hexagon (Michelle Starr, Science Alert)
Cassini data reveals hexagonal vortex rising above Saturn’s clouds (Brooks Hays, UPI)

Plateau problem (Encyclopædia Britannica)

Preservation

History

Exploration of Saturn (NASA)

Library

WorldCat, Library of Congress, UPenn Online Books, Open Library

Participation

Education

All About Saturn (Space Place, NASA)
Why does Saturn have rings? (Space Place, NASA)
Saturn (Cosmos4Kids)
Saturn’s Moons (Cosmos4Kids)

Course

Crash Course Astronomy (YouTube)

OER Commons: Open Educational Resources

Community

News

ScienceDaily, Phys.org, NPR Archives

Book

ISBNdb

Government

Document

USA.gov

Expression

More…

Saturn News -- ScienceDaily Saturn News. Learn all about Saturn. Read astronomy articles on Saturn's ring spokes, Saturn's moons, even Titan's sand dunes. Pictures.

Where were Jupiter and Saturn born?
on October 29, 2020 at 3:58 pm
New work reveals the likely original locations of Saturn and Jupiter. These findings refine our understanding of the forces that determined our Solar System's unusual architecture, including the ejection of an additional planet between Saturn and Uranus, ensuring that only small, rocky planets, like Earth, formed inward of Jupiter.
Explaining the formation of a hexagon storm on...
on October 6, 2020 at 8:57 pm
Researchers create a new 3D model that could explain the formation of a hexagon storm on Saturn -- a hurricane about 20,000 miles in diameter.
Hubble sees summertime on Saturn
on July 23, 2020 at 6:37 pm
Saturn is truly the lord of the rings in this latest snapshot from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, taken on July 4, 2020, when the opulent giant world was 839 million miles from Earth. A new Saturn image was taken during summer in the planet's northern hemisphere.
What makes Saturn's atmosphere so hot
on April 6, 2020 at 11:04 pm
New analysis of data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft found that electric currents, triggered by interactions between solar winds and charged particles from Saturn's moons, spark the auroras and heat the planet's upper atmosphere.
Safety zone saves giant moons from fatal plunge
on March 9, 2020 at 3:02 pm
Numerical simulations showed that the temperature gradient in the disk of gas around a young gas giant planet could play a critical role in the development of a satellite system dominated by a single large moon, similar to Titan around Saturn. Researchers found that dust in the circumplanetary disk can create a 'safety zone,' which keeps the moon from falling into the planet as the system evolves.

Phys.org - latest science and technology news stories Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.

Jupiter and Saturn cheek-to-cheek in rare...
on December 21, 2020 at 3:19 pm
The solar system's two biggest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, came within planetary kissing range in Monday's evening sky, an intimacy that will not occur again until 2080.
How to get people from Earth to Mars and safely...
on December 21, 2020 at 3:04 pm
There are many things humanity must overcome before any return journey to Mars is launched.
How to photograph Monday's Winter Solstice from...
on December 21, 2020 at 12:43 pm
Another great photo opportunity occurs Monday after sundown: the Winter Solstice and the sighting of the "Christmas Star."
Jupiter, Saturn merging in night sky, closest in...
on December 18, 2020 at 3:36 pm
Jupiter and Saturn will merge in the night sky Monday, appearing closer to one another than they have since Galileo's time in the 17th century.
Detailing the formation of distant solar systems...
on December 17, 2020 at 12:26 pm
We live in a mature solar system—eight planets and several dwarf planets (like Pluto) have formed, the latter within the rock- and debris-filled region known as the Kuiper Belt. If we could turn back time, what would we see as our solar system formed? While we can't answer this question directly, researchers can study other systems that are actively forming—along with the mix of gas and dust that encircles their still-forming stars—to learn about this process.