On this night in science
Cassini sets off for Saturn
October 15, 1997
On this day in 1997, a spacecraft called Cassini launched from Florida on a journey to Saturn. It took nearly seven years to get there, and then it spent thirteen years circling the planet, looking closely at its rings and moons.
Why it mattered
Cassini gave us the closest look ever at Saturn's icy rings, and it found that a small moon called Enceladus hides an ocean of liquid water under its ice.
Wonder together
If you could hold one piece of Saturn's rings in your hand, how big do you think it would be?
There's an episode about this
Saturn: A Circle Made of Pieces
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10:46
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