Space probe shows Saturn wearing 'string of pearls'

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - New images from the Cassini space probe show Saturn being adorned by a 60,000-kilometer (37,000-mile) "string of pearls", NASA scientists announced.

A statement from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said 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.

String of Pearls

October 11, 2006 Full-Res: PIA01941

In this image, Saturn's fascinating meteorology manifests itself in a "string of pearls" formation, spanning over 60,000 kilometers (37,000 miles). Seen in new images acquired by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer and lit from below by Saturn's internal thermal glow, the bright "pearls" are actually clearings in Saturn's deep cloud system. More than two dozen occur at 40 degrees north latitude. Each clearing follows another at a regular spacing of some 3.5 degrees in longitude.

This is the first time such a regular and extensive train of cloud-clearings has been observed. The regularity indicates that they may be a manifestation of a large planetary wave. Scientists plan to take more observations of this phenomenon over the next few years to try to understand Saturn's deep circulation systems and meteorology. This image was taken on April 27, 2006.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona where this image was produced.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu .

Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Nasa press release

NASA Finds Saturn's Moons May be Creating New Rings

With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute..

She's really upset with me again,
I didn't give her what she likes.
I don't know what to tell her,
Don't know what to say.
Everything got funky last night.

She Was Really Bombed,
And I was really blown away,
Until I asked her what she wanted,
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.

She gets a charge out of bein' so weird,
Digs gettin' downright strange.
But I can keep a handle on anything,
Just this side of deranged.

She was gettin' bombed,
And I was gettin' blown away,
And she held it in her hand
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.

She is so tough, as pure as the driven slush.
And that's not true what she's talkin' about, [see notes]
It really don't cost that much.

She was gettin' bombed,
And I was gettin' blown away,
And she took it in her hand,
And this is what she had to say:
A pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.
She wanna pearl necklace.

(Plus ADD THE BLISTERING GUITAR WORK BY BILLY GIBBONS)

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