Page 29 - Astronomy - October 2017 USA

(15 km/s). But the mission team began col- rings: the Cassini Division and the Encke 1 and 2. Although Pioneer 11 holds
lecting detailed observations of each target Gap. But based on observations from both the distinction of taking the first
close-up image of Saturn (left, with its
weeks in advance. And for the two weeks Pioneer and ground-based telescopes, “we largest moon Titan also in the frame),
surrounding each nearest encounter of thought we would find bland, featureless the superior resolution afforded by
Saturn, all the science teams would con- sheets of material separated by gaps,” says the Voyager probes (right, seen with
verge at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Linda Spilker, who studied the rings as moons Tethys, Dione, and Rhea to the
lower right, while Mimas appears as a
Pasadena, California, for an intense part of the Voyager team and is now the dim shadow just beneath the rings on
observing session. Cassini project scientist. Instead, the twin the left) uncovered details previously
spacecraft revealed the rings are anything unimagined by planetary scientists.
Remarkable features but bland. 1: NASA AMES; 2: NASA/JPL/USGS
of the rings On October 6, 1980, when Voyager 1
Before Voyager arrived at Saturn, scientists was still 30 million miles (50 million kilo-
knew of two empty paths splitting Saturn’s meters) from Saturn, researchers first made

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