wonderful universe
astronomers obtain fantastic images of the planet Saturn using their private telescopes . We have wonderful images of Saturn taken by observatories with larger telescopes ( Figure 4 ). In 1990 the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) was launched into low Earth orbit , and it is still active . The HST has a view of the universe free from the blurring and absorbing effects of the atmosphere . HST ’ s first image of Saturn was obtained on August 26 , 1990 ( Figure 5 ). One of the most famous images of Saturn was taken on May 26 , 2004 ( Figure 6 ). Saturn was visited by four spaceships : Pioneer 11 ( 1979 ), Voyager 1 ( 1980 ), Voyager 2 ( 1981 ) and Cassini-Huygens ( 2004-2017 ). The first image of Saturn taken by a spacecraft was obtained in 1979 by the NASA ’ s Pioneer 11 ( Figure 7 ) In 1980 NASA ’ s Voyager 1 was the first spaceship that obtained a high-resolution image of the planet ( Figure 8 ). In 1981 the Voyager 2 took one of the most famous and iconic images of the planet Saturn ( Figure 9 ). The Cassini-Huygens mission was a great success . From 2004 to 2017 the Cassini spacecraft was in orbit around Saturn . In 2005 the Huygens probe landed on Titan , the biggest of Saturn ’ s moon and the second biggest moon in the solar system . The discovery of rivers and lakes on Titan was a surprising result obtained by the mission . Wonderful images of Saturn and its moons also were obtained ( Figure 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 and 14 ). Saturn is a beautiful and mysterious world that slowly has its secrets being revealed to humanity .
COURTESY OF NASA , ESA , and STScI
COURTESY OF ESO
Above , Figure 4 - Saturn , as observed with the ESO ’ s VLT NAOS- CONICA Adaptive Optics instrument on December 8 , 2000 ; Left , Figure 5 – This color image of Saturn was taken with the HST ’ s Wide Field and Planetary Camera ( WF / PC ) in the wide field mode at 8:25 A . M . EDT , August 26 , 1990 , when the planet was at a distance of 1.39 billion kilometers ( 860 million miles ) from Earth . Below , Figure 6 – Image of Saturn near its solstice .
See following pages for more amazing images of Saturn !
COURTESY OF NASA , ESA and E . Karkoschka ( University of Arizona )
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