An evolving view of Saturn's dynamic rings.

We review our understanding of Saturn's rings after nearly 6 years of observations by the Cassini spacecraft. Saturn's rings are composed mostly of water ice but also contain an undetermined reddish contaminant. The rings exhibit a range of structure across many spatial scales; some of this involves the interplay of the fluid nature and the self-gravity of innumerable orbiting centimeter- to meter-sized particles, and the effects of several peripheral and embedded moonlets, but much remains unexplained. A few aspects of ring structure change on time scales as short as days. It remains unclear whether the vigorous evolutionary processes to which the rings are subject imply a much younger age than that of the solar system. Processes on view at Saturn have parallels in circumstellar disks.

Cassini observes the active south pole of Enceladus.

Cassini has identified a geologically active province at the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus. In images acquired by the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), this region is circumscribed by a chain of folded ridges and troughs at approximately 55 degrees S latitude. The terrain southward of this boundary is distinguished by its albedo and color contrasts, elevated temperatures, extreme geologic youth, and narrow tectonic rifts that exhibit coarse-grained ice and coincide with the hottest temperatures measured in the region. Jets of fine icy particles that supply Saturn's E ring emanate from this province, carried aloft by water vapor probably venting from subsurface reservoirs of liquid water. The shape of Enceladus suggests a possible intense heating epoch in the past by capture into a 1:4 secondary spin/orbit resonance.

Cassini discovers a kinematic spiral ring around Saturn.

Since the time of the Voyager flybys of Saturn in 1980-1981, Saturn's eccentric F ring has been known to be accompanied on either side by faint strands of material. New Cassini observations show that these strands, initially interpreted as concentric ring segments, are in fact connected and form a single one-arm trailing spiral winding at least three times around Saturn. The spiral rotates around Saturn with the orbital motion of its constituent particles. This structure is likely the result of differential orbital motion stretching an initial cloud of particles scattered from the dense core of the F ring. Different scenarios of formation, implying ringlet-satellite interactions, are explored. A recently discovered moon candidate, S/2004 S6, is on an orbit that crosses the F-ring core at the intersection of the spiral with the ring, which suggests a dynamical connection between S/2004 S6 and the spiral.

Cassini Imaging Science: initial results on Saturn's rings and small satellites.

Images acquired of Saturn's rings and small moons by the Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) during the first 9 months of Cassini operations at Saturn have produced many new findings. These include new saturnian moons; refined orbits of new and previously known moons; narrow diffuse rings in the F-ring region and embedded in gaps within the main rings; exceptionally fine-scale ring structure in moderate- to high-optical depth regions; new estimates for the masses of ring-region moons, as well as ring particle properties in the Cassini division, derived from the analysis of linear density waves; ring particle albedos in select ring regions; and never-before-seen phenomena within the rings.

Cassini Imaging Science: initial results on Phoebe and Iapetus.

The Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem acquired high-resolution imaging data on the outer Saturnian moon, Phoebe, during Cassini's close flyby on 11 June 2004 and on Iapetus during a flyby on 31 December 2004. Phoebe has a heavily cratered and ancient surface, shows evidence of ice near the surface, has distinct layering of different materials, and has a mean density that is indicative of an ice-rock mixture. Iapetus's dark leading side (Cassini Regio) is ancient, heavily cratered terrain bisected by an equatorial ridge system that reaches 20 kilometers relief. Local albedo variations within and bordering Cassini Regio suggest mass wasting of ballistically deposited material, the origin of which remains unknown.

Cassini Imaging Science: initial results on Saturn's atmosphere.

The Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) began observing Saturn in early February 2004. From analysis of cloud motions through early October 2004, we report vertical wind shear in Saturn's equatorial jet and a maximum wind speed of approximately 375 meters per second, a value that differs from both Hubble Space Telescope and Voyager values. We also report a particularly active narrow southern mid-latitude region in which dark ovals are observed both to merge with each other and to arise from the eruptions of large, bright storms. Bright storm eruptions are correlated with Saturn's electrostatic discharges, which are thought to originate from lightning.

Earth-Based Observations of the Galileo Probe Entry Site

Earth-based observations of Jupiter indicate that the Galileo probe probably entered Jupiter's atmosphere just inside a region that has less cloud cover and drier conditions than more than 99 percent of the rest of the planet. The visual appearance of the clouds at the site was generally dark at longer wavelengths. The tropospheric and stratospheric temperature fields have a strong longitudinal wave structure that is expected to manifest itself in the vertical temperature profile.