WHERE: AT EXPLORIT Science Center, 3141 5th Street, Davis.

Saturn & Titan!
Saturday, February 5, 2005
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. at Explorit

Join us Saturday evening, Feb. 5, at 7:00 p.m., when we will discuss the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn and its moon, Titan. We will look at many pictures taken from the spacecraft. We will also look at the stars in the night sky, weather permitting.

Saturn is the second largest gaseous planet in our solar system and it orbits the sun at 930 million miles. (At that distance, radio signals take 84 minutes to reach Earth.) Saturn's best feature is the system of 7 main rings composed of small chunks of ice and rocks. The planet is made up of mainly hydrogen and some helium, and it has a strong magnetosphere around it.

Titan is the largest of 31 moons with a surface temperature of -184ºC. Titan is too cold to have liquid water and is the only moon in our solar system to have a permanent atmosphere composed of nitrogen, methane, and ethane. (Ethane is one of the molecules required to make amino acids - essential to all life.)

The Cassini spacecraft and Huygens Titan probe were launched from Earth on Oct. 15, 1997. The Cassini craft is designed to study Saturn and many of its moons, and to relay data from the Huygens probe during its three-hour descent into Titan's atmosphere. The $1.4 billion Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint venture of National Aeronautics & Space Administration, European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency. The mission is named after 17th century astronomers Jean Dominique Cassini and Christiaan Huygens.

THE JOURNEY
The spacecraft entered the Saturn system on July 1, 2004. The main mission is to orbit the planet 77 times in 4 years (2004-2008). The optical instruments on board are designed to measure temperatures, chemical compositions, structures, and chemistries of Saturn, its rings, moons, and their atmospheres. It will photograph Saturn, its rings, and 9 of its moons in visible, near-infrared, and ultraviolet light. Titan will have 45 fly-bys at about 590 miles above its surface. The radar instruments will map Titan and measure heights of surface features. Field and particles instruments will map Saturn's magnetic field and detect charged particles and plasmas.

The Titan-Huygens probe was launched towards Titan on Dec. 24, 2004, and landed on its surface on Jan. 14, 2005. The Huygens-Titan probe was designed to collect aerosols for chemical analysis, make spectral measurements of Titan's atmosphere, and photograph its surface. It measured wind speeds and determined the physical, chemical, and electrical properties of Titan's atmosphere during descent. Before its destruction, the probe studied the moon's surface for 70 min.

Cassini spacecraft has already beamed back detailed photos of Saturn, its rings, and its moons. Photos have revealed that Saturn has more moons than previously known. The close-ups of the rings show how they are shaped by 'shepherding moons' orbiting within them.

The Huygens probe's photos show Titan's surface etched with Earth-like riverbeds and shorelines carved by methane rains. There is wind and weather based on liquid methane rather than liquid water. The organic molecules in the atmosphere are similar to what was on primordial Earth when life began, albeit at a much lower temperature. Could life have evolved on Titan?

WINTER NIGHT SKY
Saturn (-0.3, Gemini) rises in the even-ing, Jupiter (-2.0, Virgo) rises late at night, Venus (-3.8, Sag.) & Mars (+1.4, Oph.) rise before dawn.
See Comet Machholz (+4.8, Per./Cas.) in the evening sky.
Moon's phases: Full Moon: Jan. 25/
Feb. 23/Mar. 25, Last Quarter: Feb. 1/Mar. 3, New Moon: Feb. 8/Mar. 10, First Quarter: Feb. 15/Mar. 17.


Location:
Explorit Science Center
3141 Fifth St., Davis           
(530) 756-0191

Host:
Vinita & Calvin Domier
(530) 756-7443

Contact Vinita Domier at vcdomier@yahoo.com to receive these bulletins via e-mail.

To Receive These Bulletins via E-mail Contact Explorit at: Explorit Science Center

The Astronomy Club is for everyone - adults, children, knowledgeable or ignorant. Come to listen, look and learn, or to share your expertise or experience.