Presenting the fact and fiction of tomorrow since 2001
We interrupt our regular blogging for some space-geek porn in the form of the latest images piped back from the Cassini probe during its exploration of the neighbourhood around Saturn.
They’re more than a little less dull than your coworker’s shots from Disneyland, aren’t they? [via Metafilter; images borrowed from linked article, please contact for take-down if required]
The Cassini-Huygens probe was launched on October 15, 2007 1997 (Corrected, thanks Adam!), with the a mission to study the planet Saturn and its moons. By any measure this has been an extremely successful endeavor. The most recent images from the spacecraft have shown giant hydrocarbon lakes on the moon Titan and jets of fine, icy particles spraying from the moon Enceladus.
The probe took seven years to reach Saturn. Since then, the robot spacecraft has been delivering stunning photographs of the ringed planet and its fantastic family of moons. “The launch was the start of one of space exploration’s great adventures and we didn’t really know what we would find,” said Professor Andrew Coates, of University College London, who heads one of the UK teams involved in Cassini. “Now we are reaping the rewards of nearly 20 years’ work on the mission and the science continues to be amazing.”
