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Hubble Telescope Shows Giant View of Saturn

Posted by simoniker on from the please-note-no-planet-jokes dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The giant planet, Saturn, offers the best Southern view of its spectacular rings only three times a century. The Hubble Space Telescope astronomers published this seasonal glimpse today, in infrared, ultraviolet and visible spectral bands. The Hubble also first penetrated the changing face of Saturn's biochemically rich moon, Titan, which will be the ambitious target of a landing mission - the Cassini-Huygens probe in 294 days (July 1, 2004). Because Titan changes both spatially and temporally based on observations of its atmosphere, speculation of what drives these variations derives from the moon's high content of methane and other organic building blocks."

15 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. No Uranus jokes? by Lane.exe · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Fine then, take all my fun away!

    I can't wait to see the results of the Cassini landing. Titan's been one of my favorite moons ever since junior high science. The presence of so many different chemicals that are found in few other places in the universe means its going to be an interesting experiment. Who knows what we'll learn?

    --
    IAALS.
  2. We're all methane on the inside. by Ignis+Flatus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because Titan changes both spatially and temporally based on observations of its atmosphere, speculation of what drives these variations derives from the moon's high content of methane and other organic building blocks."

    I'm 78% methane, myself.

    22% other.

    1. Re:We're all methane on the inside. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think Im 65% alchhol myswelf.

  3. Rings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What sort of object would have to strike a planet to produce such a spectacular debris field?

    1. Re:Rings by noitalever · · Score: 2, Funny

      God

    2. Re:Rings by Vacuum+Sux · · Score: 5, Informative

      An object doesn't have to strike it to break up. If a comet or such come too close it can brake up just because of the gravitational forces. The Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet was a good example of this process.

      --
      In Soviet Russia, the profit overlords welcome you!
    3. Re:Rings by hplasm · · Score: 2, Funny

      The rings are bits of God? Whoa!

      --
      ...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
    4. Re:Rings by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Insightful

      A nice big Kuiper object crossing the Roche limit and getting partially captured would probably do it, no?

    5. Re:Rings by pmz · · Score: 3, Funny

      ...debris field?

      No, it isn't debris. If you look closely, you will see Saturn's rings are made up of billions of white monoliths waiting for orders to attack the black monoliths of Jupiter. The last battle between the original fourth and fifth planets resulted in an astroid belt, but it is likely that Jupiter and Saturn will simply dissipate into a gas belt (not dissimilar to my beer gut...).

      --
      Healthcare article at Kuro5hin
  4. When do we get pictures of... by Rheingold · · Score: 3, Funny

    Mt Winston, Mt Niles, Mt Rumfoord or that cute little Tralfamadorian Salo? /me dematerializes into chrono-synclastic infundibula

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    Wil
    wiki
  5. Temporally? by ttfkam · · Score: 2
    Because Titan changes both spatially and temporally...

    It changes temporally? Is this the "pertains to a temple" definition? Is Titan close to the temporal artery? Or is Titan a new religious dignitary? Or perhaps they meant Titan is in temporal (time-related) flux like in some Star Trek episode?

    Methinks someone needs a dictionary. I believe the poster meant, "Because Titan changes both spatially and in temperature..."
    --

    - I don't need to go outside, my CRT tan'll do me just fine.
    1. Re:Temporally? by Red+Rocket · · Score: 4, Funny


      Or perhaps they meant Titan is in temporal (time-related) flux like in some Star Trek episode?
      Yes, that one. It is, in fact, in temporal flux. You are, too. Do you have a watch or a clock with a second hand? See how it moves like that? Spooky, huh?

      --
      - Hail to our fearless misleader! Fool speed ahead!
  6. It's the quantum moon! by MarkusQ · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because Titan changes both spatially and temporally based on observations of its atmosphere...

    Isn't it a little big to show quantum effects like that? Or maybe we just need to turn the power down a tad on whatever we're using to observe its atomosphere.

    -- MarkusQ

  7. Looks pretty close... by Pirogoeth · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...to this...

    --
    Happiness is like peeing yourself. Everybody can see it but only you can feel its warmth.
  8. Baxter by TrippyZ · · Score: 2, Informative

    For more information on this most famous of Saturns moons, read Titan by Stephen Baxter.

    Incidentally, I was somewhat poleaxed reading the opening chapter, which features a catastrophic shuttle reentry. This seemed most prescient.