Tag Archives: saturn

Diamond Rain?

Posted on March 29, 2017 by abbeyroth

Scientists are exploring the idea that diamonds rain down from the skies on Saturn and Jupiter. Methane exists in abundance in the atmospheres of these planets, and lighting storms turn this methane into soot (which is pure carbon). As the soot falls toward the planet’s surface, it hardens under intense pressures and forms small diamonds about… Continue reading Diamond Rain? Continue reading →

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Planetary Defense System

Posted on February 14, 2017 by elliottlifeastronomy

Earth sees its own fair share of incoming projectiles from space, but it’s extremely rare to find an event that poses any real threat to Earth or its life.  Most of this safety comes from that fact that space is inconceivably large; the possibility of being hit by an asteroid that could do any real […] Continue reading →

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Blog 8 (Saturn’s Rings)

Posted on April 10, 2016 by astronomer0110

Saturn’s rings are one of the most fascinating subjects in astronomy for many people because they are one of the most visible examples of beauty in our Solar System. Interestingly enough, the other Jovian planets also have rings, but they are not nearly as conspicuous as the rings on Saturn are. What fascinated me when […] Continue reading →

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Titan’s Peaks

Posted on April 10, 2016 by nedastro2110

Mountains have always been a source of fascination for me. I climbed my first 14er, Mt. Yale (Elevation 14,199 ft.), when I was in middle school. Hopefully one day I can return to Colorado to climb more as well as many other mountains in this world. One of my favorite mountains is Mount Amiata in […] Continue reading →

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Something like acid rain, but a lot worse

Posted on April 10, 2016 by philhawkins221

captain’s blog, Stardate 69741.0 So we’re spending a lot of time talking about moons lately. If I weren’t so well-educated in the astronomy of our Solar System I would maybe think: “you’re just learning about moons, isn’t that kind of boring?” But I AM so well-educated in the astronomy of our Solar System and know […] Continue reading →

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The Solar Shepherds

Posted on April 4, 2016 by evinske

Rings. It’s what many senior girls are looking for right now, just as graduation approaches. Spring brings the rings, right? The giant planets, however, sport perhaps the most breathtaking rings of all. What many won’t notice about rings of giant planets, such as Saturn, are its imperfections. The darker regions of the rings do not […] Continue reading →

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Saturn’s Titan doesn’t have it’s own magnetosphere!

Posted on April 5, 2015 by drgrundstrom

So whilst finding out some information about Saturn’s orbiter Cassini, I came across this story: Cassini Catches Titan Naked in the Solar Wind.  We’ve been talking a lot about magnetospheres when we discuss the giant worlds so this whole thing is really interesting! The space probe Cassini was going by Titan in 2013 when a big […] Continue reading →

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Could our Solar System have once had Super Earths?

Posted on April 5, 2015 by agiantchicken

New research appears to suggest that the early solar system might have been home to several “Super Earths,” terrestrial planets which are between 1 to 10 times the mass of Earth. One of the lingering questions about the formation of the solar system involves exactly how is it that the terrestrial planets of our solar system are so […] Continue reading →

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Signs of Warm Water Found on Enceladus

Posted on March 15, 2015 by leedd1

NASA’s spacecraft, Cassini, has made an astonishing discovery about one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus. This spacecraft has entered Saturn’s orbit and is sending information to the space center about Saturn and its moons. The purpose of sending this spacecraft was to make an effort of finding another celestial body that have habitable traits similar to […] Continue reading →

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Think Saturn’s rings are cool? Think Bigger.

Posted on February 13, 2015 by christophermfitzgerald

Saturn’s rings are large, 175,000 miles across large, but as the old adage goes-bigger is better. Scientists looking at exoplanets have discovered a planet with rings 200 times larger than that of Saturn’s. The planet itself, known as J1407b, is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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