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Cassini is beginning to reveal Saturn's cloud bands on its way to its orbit

The Cassini spacecraft, which is on its way to Saturn, took amazing pictures of bright and dark bands of clouds that characterize the atmosphere of the planet with rings

17.5.2004

By: Avi Blizovsky

Saturn on approach to Cassini
Saturn on approach to Cassini

The Cassini spacecraft, which is on its way to Saturn, took amazing pictures of bright and dark strips of clouds that characterize the atmosphere of the planet with rings.

The dark areas are clear of high clouds, while the light areas are sites where high, thick clouds cover the dark areas below. The small Saturnian moon Mimas, 396 kilometers in diameter, is visible to the left of Saturn's south pole.

Scientists were initially misled by the dark spot on Saturn's south pole because it is so small and centered. The point could be a cloud-free area affected by the magnetic field of Thebes.

The bands of clouds move at different speeds. This can be due to different movements between them or disturbances from factors that are below the visible cloud layer.
Cassini will enter orbit around Saturn on June 30. It carries on its back a small European spacecraft called Huygens that six months later will separate from it and land on Saturn's large moon, Titan.

Saturn storms are beginning to unfold

12.5.2004

By: Avi Blizovsky

Saturn
Saturn

In the photo, taken on 11/5/04, you can clearly see a series of storms at approximately 30 degrees south latitude. These areas where the air swirls were formed by several spots during the Cassini spacecraft's approach to Saturn, including several that merged. A large number of smaller scale atmospheric formations also begin to appear.

The scale of the image is 157 kilometers per pixel. The image was taken with the narrow-angle camera on May 11, 2004, from a distance of 26.4 million kilometers from Saturn using a filter centered at 750 nanometers.
The contrast of the image has been increased to help understand the details.

Saturn in full view - in two months Cassini will begin orbiting

3.5.2004

By: Avi Blizovsky

Saturn
Saturn

The Cassini-Huygens mission continues to provide spectacular images of Saturn. The double spacecraft is on a two-month journey until reaching the planet of the rings to begin a four-year exploration mission of the gas giant and its many moons.

The latest images, taken from a distance of 48 million kilometers, already cover the entire field of view of Cassini's narrow-angle camera.
Cassini is the main spacecraft, and it carries inside a smaller spacecraft, Huygens, which will land on Saturn's large moon, Titan.

The photo taken on March 27 actually consists of three exposures - with red, green and blue filters. Each pixel represents 268 kilometers. This is the last image in which Cassini's narrow field camera will be able to see all of Saturn at once. The image shows clear color differences between the bands of Saturn's clouds, and the individual rings also become clearer.

Two dark spots are visible in the northern hemisphere. These points are close to the latitude where Cassini observed two merging storms in mid-March.

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