inothernews:

E-RING / F-STOP   The robotic Cassini spacecraft, currently in orbit above Saturn, drifted in giant planet’s shadow for about 12 hours in 2006 and and captured this incredible image, seen in exaggerated colors.  First, the night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own majestic ring system. Next, the rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against Saturn, but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn, slightly scattering sunlight — in fact, new rings were discovered, including the planet’s E ring, created by the newly discovered ice-fountains of the moon Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above. Far in the distance, at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable pale blue dot of Earth. (Photo: Cassini Imagining Team via NASA)

itsfullofstars:

Space Boat: A Nautical Mission to an Alien Sea

In 2006, while flying by Saturn’s moon Titan, the radar on NASA’s Cassini orbiter discovered seas of liquid ethane and methane on the moon’s –300ºF surface, the only bodies of liquid we know of that exist anywhere but on Earth. Some of the oily seas appeared on Cassini’s radar to be larger than Lake Superior, but visibility was poor because Titan’s atmosphere is thick and hazy. Now NASA is considering sending a probe called the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) to splash down on one of Titan’s seas for a closer look. The mission would be humankind’s first extraterrestrial nautical expedition.

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