Saturn's mysteries begin to unfold

Abstract

The unsurpassed size and regal coloration of Jupiter make it deserving of its appellation king of the planets. But Saturn, without a doubt, is a most worthy queen. Endowed with the most spectacularly beautiful array of rings in the solar system, Saturn also can boast the largest entourage of satellites—15 sighted so far. Not surprisingly, then, Saturn has left scientists breathless and agog. That is due, in part, to Voyager l's breakneck traversal of Saturn's mini solar system. The spacecraft's cameras and instruments radioed back an avalanche of data, and scientists will delightedly be digging themselves out from under it for many months. A day after Voyager's closest flyby on Nov. 12, imaging team leader Bradford A. Smith of the University of Arizona declared: cannot recall being in such a state of euphoria for any previous planetary encounter including our two remarkable Voyager encounters at Jupiter. I think we've learned more about the Saturn ...