believe that they are really seeing the rings . When it finally sinks in that what they are seeing is real , they are often transformed in their thinking of their own place in the universe . And this has real benefits for people that I will discuss more in depth sometime , but it is suffice to say that people are fundamentally changed after they see the beauty of Saturn for the first time . I too count myself among the people who have been transformed by the “ Ring Effect ”, and it has set me off on a course of exploration that continues to this day . As a young man I watched with the rest of the world as the Pioneer 11 spacecraft made the first historic flyby encounter in 1979 followed by Voyagers 1 and 2 in the early ‘ 80s .
The images taken of Saturn by these spacecraft are still iconic to this very day . But the scientific discoveries of the features of Saturn , its moons and ring system created more questions for researchers than answers . This led to the most ambitious and successful planetary exploration program of all time- the Flagshipclass NASA / JPL / ESA / ASI Cassini- Huygens Mission to Saturn . “ Cassini ” comprised both NASA ’ s Cassini space probe ( which was the first spacecraft to enter Saturn ’ s orbit ), and the European Space Agency ’ s Huygens Lander , which landed on Titan Saturn ’ s largest of 82 moons . The two craft took their names from Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens astronomers who in the late 1600 ’ s made important discoveries about
Saturn . Through the mission , more than 200 scientists from 17 countries contributed to gain a better understanding of Saturn , and its rings , moons , and magnetosphere . I was fortunate enough to get to know the Cassini Project Scientist Dr . Linda Spilker from JPL , who is one of the most knowledgeable people about Saturn alive today . She was kind and generous enough to share her insight with me one afternoon during a video interview from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mission Control Center in Pasadena . I wanted to share these videos with you in hopes of inspiring you to take the steps to observe Saturn for yourself so you can experience the “ Ring Effect ” and see where that journey takes you . n n n Scott W . Roberts is the founder and president of Explore Scientific in Springdale , Ark . He is an avid amateur astronomer who has spent more than 30 years in the astronomy optics industry .
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