Saturn: A New View

by Laura Lovett, Joan Horvath, Jeff Cuzzi

After a journey of seven years and 2.2 billion miles, the spacecraft Cassini, with a probe named Huygens aboard, reached Saturn in July 2004, beginning a four-year tour to observe the remote planet, its rings, and its moons in depth. As a result of the spectacularly succesful Cassini-Huygens mission, photographs of astounding beauty have come streaming back to Earth, together with enough data to keep hundreds of scientists engrossed for decades. Reproduced here, in unprecedented detail and exquisite, high-quality format, are 150 of the best of those images, among them rings from the unlit side never visible from Earth and panoramas of the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.

This breathtaking volume, including authoritative essays on the planetary system and the mission, reveals the planet, its ethereally beautiful rings, and its 40+ moons in ways never before seen or recorded.

“Astonishing, amazing, and personal.”
— Dr. David Livingston

Host, The Space Show

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Last Ranger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sixth From The Sun!

This amazing coffee-table book allows you to get up-close and personal with Saturn and some of its many moons. It took a collaborative effort by three people to get this book into print: Laura Lovett- graphic design; Joan Horvath -aeronautical engineer and Dr Jeff Cuzzi- astronomy, Saturn and planetary ring specialist. Horvath starts out the text portion of Saturn: A New View with a brief look at the history of observational astronomy, the telescope, the space program and the people that made it happen. Next Cuzzi gives you an in depth article on Saturn, its family of moons and its famous rings. Lovett ends the book with an essay on The Art In Science. But the main thrust of the book is, of course, the pictures. And what glorious pictures they are! Most of the images are from the Cassini-Huygens history making mission. You get close up views of the planet as well as some panoramic shots that will take your breath away. Detailed shots of the rings, taken from all angles, illustrate the dynamics of how this mini solar system works. Close up views of Saturn's major moons like Titan, Enceladus and Hyperion will give you clues as to how violent space can be. Saturn has always been one of the most popular planets and for many years was thought to be the only one with rings. We now know that all the "gas giants" have rings. But, no matter, Saturn is still the "poster child" of the Solar System. Over the years many people have contributed to the "art" of astronomy; Galileo was the first to see Saturn's "handles" (as he called the rings), Percival Lowell was sure he saw canals on Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs's adventures on "Barsoom" and from the pen of H.G. Wells: War Of The Worlds. Now, modern science and technology will take you "Where no man has gone before". And, with these stunning portraits, Saturn:A New View will reveal the undreamed secrets of the Ringed Planet.

Last Ranger

[Christopher Obert · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely beautiful book! The images of the ringed world are breathtaking. The book tells the story of the Cassini spacecraft and its smaller companion lander Huygens. The information and images relayed back to Earth will forever change how we look and think about the sixth planet, Saturn.

[Joe]

Amazing pictures of my favorite planet and its moons.

[Scott Benowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting photo essay, very beautiful collection of color photos from NASA's Cassini- Huygens probes. This book is written for laypersons, you don't need to possess an advanced comprehension of planetary science to understand or appreciate this book.

[Jag Bot · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome pictures. interesting to learn about horsehoe orbits and orbital resonance.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

On funds drawn from a Christmas gift card to Borders Bookstore, I purchased this wonderful hardbound volume: my first official coffee table book!

Filled with awe-inspiring images taken by the nuclear-powered Cassini space probe orbiting Saturn, and accompanied by informative text, this is a great coffee table book for space enthusiasts to dress their living rooms with. Now all I need is a coffee table to put it on.

[Thomas Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful pictures, plus insights into rings, moons, water and organic chemistry on other worlds.



I put some of these insights into goodreads trivia question form:

goodreads.com/trivia/work/3011579-sat...

or

goodreads.com/trivia/author/3930629.J...