Tag: Cassini
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Polar Weather on Jupiter and Saturn: What the Poles Reveal About Their Interiors
Introduction: The Poles as Windows into Giant-Planet Interiors For decades, scientists have watched the poles of Jupiter and Saturn with growing curiosity. The huge, persistent whirlpools known as polar vortices don’t just look dramatic on both planets; they also carry clues about the deep interiors and how their atmospheres behave under extreme pressures and fast…
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Titan’s Hidden Interior: Could Saturn’s Moon Lack a Global Ocean?
New insights into Titan’s hidden interior NASA’s Cassini mission left a lasting impression with the prospect that Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, harbors a vast global ocean beneath its thick ice shell. The idea of a single, moon-wide saline ocean captivated researchers and the public alike, fueling theories about Titan’s potential for life and its geologic…
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Titan’s Subsurface: Is There No Global Ocean After All?
Rethinking Titan’s Interior: From a Global Ocean to a More Nuanced Structure For years, NASA’s Cassini mission held a tantalizing promise: Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, could harbor a vast global ocean beneath its hydrocarbon-rich crust. This concept sparked imaginations about a potential habitat for life and a world with a hidden, dynamic interior. Recent reexaminations…
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Titan Ocean Doubt: NASA Reanalysis Challenges Global Ocean
New interpretations emerge from old data For years, NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn hinted that Titan, the largest moon, could harbor a global subsurface ocean beneath its thick, hydrocarbon-rich surface. The prospect of a global ocean thrilled scientists, offering tantalizing possibilities for geology, climate, and even the potential for life. Yet, a fresh look at…
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Europlanet Webinar: Cassini Detects Organic Compounds in Enceladus’ Fresh Plume
Overview: Cassini’s Fresh Plume and a New Detection The Europlanet Webinar on 5 November 2025 brings together researchers and enthusiasts to explore a startling development: the Cassini mission, which operated from 1997 to 2017, identified organic molecules in ice grains from the geysers that shoot from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Minutes after being ejected into space,…
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Europlanet Webinar: Cassini Detects Organic Compounds in Enceladus Plume
Overview of the Europlanet Webinar On 5 November 2025, at 11:00 CET (10:00 UTC), the Europlanet Webinar series highlighted a pivotal discovery about Enceladus, one of Saturn’s most intriguing moons. The session featured Thomas O’Sullivan from Freie Universitaet Berlin, who shared the latest results on organic molecules detected in ice grains ejected from Enceladus’ plumes.…
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Europlanet Webinar: Cassini Detects Organic Compounds in the Enceladus Plume
Overview of the Europlanet Webinar The Europlanet Webinar series returns with a compelling session on one of the solar system’s most intriguing worlds: Enceladus. On 5 November 2025 at 11:00 CET (10:00 UTC), researchers, space enthusiasts, and planetary science students will gather to hear Thomas O’Sullivan of the Freie Universität Berlin discuss the latest detection…
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Space Radiation May Create Some Organic Molecules Detected on Icy Moons
Rethinking the Origins of Enceladus’s Organics For years, the plumes jetting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus have been a tantalizing clue in the search for habitability beyond Earth. The Cassini mission detected a suite of organic molecules in these icy geysers, suggesting a chemically rich environment beneath the frozen crust and a potential link to a…
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Space Radiation May Create Some Organic Molecules Found in Enceladus Plumes
New insight into Enceladus’s chemistry Scientists are reconsidering how organic molecules detected in plumes erupting from Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus should be interpreted. A recent study proposes that some compounds previously thought to come from a subsurface ocean could instead be produced by natural radiation near the moon’s surface. While this doesn’t rule out a…
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Mimas Ocean World? Hidden Subsurface Ocean on Saturn Moon
Unveiling a Hidden Ocean Beneath an Icy World Saturn’s small, cratered moon Mimas has long been dismissed as a frozen relic, its surface pockmarked by impact craters. Yet new research using advanced thermal and orbital models is prompting scientists to rethink what lies beneath that battered exterior. The findings point to a plausible, relatively young…