Arsh Noman

Age: 9
School: UUM International School
State: Kedah

"I would be pleased to choose TARGET NUMER 1 for the Cassini spacecraft's target,
Saturn's rings and three of Saturn's 62 moons because:
I think the fact that knowing how old Saturn's rings really are is quite interesting and
seeing Enceladus with its icy surface shooting out liquid salty water into the Saturnian
system is pretty cool to see. I never knew that Enceladus could do such an amazing
thing!

Seeing this fantastic phenomenon would be very nice. Also, seeing the other 2 moons,
Tethys and Mimas, which I have never seen, or even heard of until now sounds
interesting. I have heard that Tethys is also known to be called Saturn III and I heard that
in Tethys, there is a very big valley called the Ithaca Chasma which is named after the
island in Ithaca, in Greece. It is up to 100 km wide, 3 to 5 km deep and 2,000 km long,
running about three quarters of the way around Tethys, making it one of the longest
valleys in our Solar System, the Milky Way. Ithaca Chasma was revealed by Voyager 1
on the 12th of November in the year 1980.

Mimas is one of the moons of Saturn that we will see. Mimas was discovered on the
17th of September in the year 1789 by British astronomer Frederick William Herschel
who has also discovered the sixth biggest moon in Saturn, Enceladus. It is named after
Mimas, a son of Gaia according to Greek mythology. The surface area of Mimas is
known to be a bit slightly less than the land area of Spain. Mimas looks very much like
the Death Star, a space station, first seen in one of the Star Wars movies released in
1977 Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Saturn's stunning looking rings are made of ice, rock and dust particles. A book that I
have says that some of Saturn's ice particles are bigger than a double story house!
Saturn's rings must be very, very old, compared to the age of Saturn itself. We already
know that Saturn's rings formed after Saturn itself formed. This is a great chance to
figure out how old Saturn's rings are; it is thought that Saturn's rings are 4.4 billion years
old. It is also estimated that Saturn's rings possibly formed when objects like comets,
asteroids and even moons broke up into pieces around Saturn, due to Saturn's very
strong gravity. The parts of those objects then kept smashing each other and then broke
into even smaller pieces. These pieces then spread around Saturn, forming it's stunning
and beautiful rings.

Saturn is the ninth planet from the sun but the second biggest planet in the Milky Way; it
is also a gas giant. This is the reason why I want to choose TARGET 1 for Cassini's
mission."

Adish Shah
School: - Vikas - The Concept School
Grade: 8
City: Telangana
"As future astronomers, we would not waste time deciding what to study; the effect of
Thetys and Mimas on Enceladus, Jupiter, or the relationship between Rhea and Thetys
as the Cassini has only one more year before it gets decommissioned in 2017. We think
that it is essential to point the cameras of Cassini towards Jupiter which would be more
riveting and will give more results leading to new discoveries.
We are eager to study about the tidal heat created by Mimas and Thetys on Enceladus,
which is stopping Enceladus' subsurface ocean from freezing. But, this looks
insignificant when we think about the secret of Jupiter's atmosphere which is on the
verge of being cracked. Studying about the relationship between Thetys and Rhea will
cost the precious time of Cassini. We also think that the Cassini has already scrutinized
Saturn and its moons. So, we feel it is more useful to study the mysterious zones and
belts of Jupiter.

When the Cassini probe flew past Jupiter On 6th March 2003, the Cassini scientists
announced an important discovery made about Jupiter's atmosphere during the flyby.
The scientists had discovered that the atmosphere was divided into 'belts' and 'zones'.
The dark regions were called "belts", while the pale regions were called as "zones".
Initially, the zones containing the pale clouds were mistaken as areas where air was
rising because; on Earth clouds are found in areas of upwelling air. But later, the
observation of the photographs showed small white individual storm cells, not visible
from Earth, popping up exceptionally in the belts. So, the zones are regions of sinking
air, while the belts are areas of rising air.

This time the Cassini has an opportunity to view the Jupiter's mysterious atmosphere
from many million miles. This is a golden chance for scientists who study planets that
are situated outside our solar system and are called "exoplanets." This observation
would let scientists study Jupiter as if it were an exoplanet and understand how
exoplanets with an atmosphere appear from a billion miles away. Jupiter has already
been observed from a far distance by Voyager 1, 25 years ago. But Cassini has
advanced technology on board and this look would be much better.

The scientists were taken aback by surprise when the ultraviolet images of Jupiter
showed a large swirling dark oval having a high atmospheric haze about the size of the
great red spot near the north pole of Jupiter. The different inclination angles in the
images of Jupiter's rings taken by the Cassini gave the researchers an insight into the
shape of the particles after they studied the way they disperse sunlight. As a result, they
determined that the particles were of irregular shape, instead of a spherical shape.

Jupiter's storms and its inexpressible beauty has always caught the attention of
scientists. We were always mesmerized by Jupiter's beauty. Since then, Jupiter's
mysteries have always caught our attention. Jupiter was a mystery, but it will never
remain a 'Mystery' for us."

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"I think we should choose Target 1. This image shows where the three moons are
positioned. I think it is important for us to point out the fact that Tethys is made of water
ice and a small fraction of rock. Tethys, itself was discovered by G.D. Cassini.
Another reason why like Target 1 is because it includes Enceladus. This moon is 500 km
in diameter. That is huge! This moon is also made of fresh clean ice. At noon, the
temperature can go up to 198C. I wouldn't like to be there! This moon has been
discovered by William Hercshel, though when Cassini started multiple flybys the
company was revealing the surface in greater details.

I think Mimas is the moon I like the least, it is the least interesting one. This moon is also
known as SATURN 1. It is 396 km in diameter. It was discover by Herschel, too.

And last but not least there are Saturn's rings. We all know they are made of dust rock,
and ice particles.
Target one also gives us the opportunity to see all three moons unlike the other targets;
we can also try placing all the other 59 moons. According to this picture, Enceladus and
Mimas seem so close. It would be great to find whether it is the case or not. On the first
target there is more information than on any other images, so there is more to research
on.

I wonder why two of the moons are situated beneath the ring. This photograph can also
tell us the actual distance from Saturn and its moons; we all know that Saturn is the 6th
planet away from the sun, but we do not know how far Enceladus, Mimas and Tethys are
away from the sun. I think we might discover if there could be any more planets around
the moons. We can also see how big the ring is, observe different phases of the moon
and check if they are the same as our moon.
We can find out if the moons take more or less than 28 days to turn around Saturn (like
our moon does). We know that Saturn is a gas planet but what about Enceladus, Mimas
and Tethys? It would be good to know if they are made of ice, gas or even something
more exiting!

Please, please, please choose Target one. I really need answers to my questions. And
who knows, some of them might be useful for scientists and they could help them."

Selin HEPISERI
School: skdar American Academy
Teacher: Eleanor Pate
Grade: 10
City: skdar, Istanbul
"Saturn's moons and rings have been a subject of curiosity for centuries. While the
astonishingly beautiful rings give answers to questions about Saturn; Enceladus,
Saturn's sixth largest moon, gives us evidence of a possible hope for a new planet that
yields life due to past discoveries and its similarities to Earth. Therefore, the image of
Saturn's rings and moons will not only help broaden the understanding about the origin
of Saturn but also serve up to huge discoveries about a possible life-yielding planet.
Photographing Saturn's moons will give us an image of a potential life source:
Enceladus. Enceladus is one of Saturn's sixty-two moons and is covered with a layer of
ice with salty, liquid water underneath the surface. The unique quality of Enceladus,
which is shooting water from underneath the surface, heat, possibly liquid water and
organic chemicals were discovered. Thus, Enceladus is believed to have astrobiological
potential due to a theory called "Primary Soup Theory". If there are sources such as
heat, organic chemicals and liquid, are there organisms formed and how will they
develop under those conditions? Images of Enceladus will help yield these results since
they will provide explanatory images.

Enceladus's similarities with Earth also contribute to its astrobiological potential. The
water ice jets from Enceladus play a major role in the formation of its magnetosphere.
The magnetosphere creates an electromagnetic bubble to protect the material cycle
within the planet's fluid interior. Similarly, Earth also forms its magnetosphere that
protects the cycle inside from the harmful particles emitted by the Sun but the
magnetosphere of Earth is much smaller in scale. With more pictures of Enceladus, the
Cassini team will have sufficient information to observe the magnetosphere and
understand the complexity of the formation of the protective electromagnetic bubble
surrounding Saturn. Furthermore, the discoveries about the magnetosphere can then
yield important information about Saturn's interior, processes occurring within and its
interaction with the solar wind.

Another photography target on the Cassini mission that will yield valuable information
are the rings of Saturn. Saturn's rings are made up of ice, rock and dust. They form a
complex place where small moons and ring particles collide. Waves and jets constantly
form and dissipate. Although the elements that make up the rings and how particles
inside the rings behave are known, their date of formation is not. The image that centers
Saturn's rings will help scientists understand the overall question of age and the origin of
Saturn's rings. Understanding when the rings were formed and how Saturn came to be
will also yield results about the complexity of galaxies.

Saturn's rings and moons are integral but mysterious elements of our solar system. The
images of Enceladus, give rise to ideas about another life-yielding planet, help
understand the formation of magnetosphere and the processes within Saturn. The
images of the rings yield information about the age of the rings and therefore origin of
Saturn. Photographing Saturn's rings and moons hold great potential for future
discoveries."

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