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The Cassini spacecraft was launched on October 15th, 1997. Cassini flew by Venus and Earth before heading toward a flyby of Jupiter . It arrived at Saturn on 1 July 2004 to begin a four-year exploration of the ringed planet and its moons.

Latest News:

Cassini is now in orbit around Saturn and sending back data.

The Huygens probe successfully landed on Saturn's moon Titan on the 14th January 2005, sending back amazing views of this mysterious world.

This image shows Titan in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, taken by the Cassini spacecraft on 26 October 2004, during the close fly-by.

This image is constructed from four images acquired through different colour filters. Red and green colours represent infrared wavelengths and show areas where atmospheric methane absorbs light.

These colours reveal a brighter (redder) northern hemisphere. Blue represents ultraviolet wavelengths and shows the high atmosphere and detached hazes.

The Huygens probe landed at a site shown on the left-hand edge of this image on 14 January 2005.

Further news updates are available from JPL's web site and from the ESA Cassini-Huygens web site.

Prof. Manuel Grande
Last updated: 17 January 2005