"THE  MORNING  STAR ZINE"
.        .Presents "It's A 'String of Pearls' On Saturn"

NEWS: 3/2/07
Dazzling New Saturn Images Released

TRANSLATE

Oct. 12, 2006 -  NASA - LOS ANGELES - AFP -  NASA's scientists have announced that new images from the Cassini space probe show Saturn being adorned by a 37,000-mile (60,000-kilometer) "string of pearls".

A statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said that the "pearls" seen in a stunning infra-red image were actually clearings in Saturn's deep cloud system.

It is the first time such large cloud clearings have been observed around Saturn, indicating that they may be a result of a large planetary cloud formation that might encircle the whole planet.

Cassini was launched in October 1997, carrying with it the European Space Agency's Huygens probe. Huygens separated from Cassini in December 2004 to land on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Cassini is on a mission to survey the ringed giant and its satellites.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

Photo: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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