Saturn a Year after Cassini

It has been one year since the Cassini spacecraft has been in the Saturn system, conducting scientific research. The latest science reported last week has Saturn spinning slower than it did when the spin was measured by the Voyager and Pioneer spacecrafts. Saturn is now spinning seven minutes slower. Another bit of stunning news was that like Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede, Saturn's rings has an atmosphere of molecular oxygen. The oxygen is most likely the result of hydrogen being stripped away from water molecules coming from the ice making up the ring material.

The latest coming out of observations of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has scientists speculating that they may have found a methane lake, about 235km by 75km. Scientists have long expected to find large bodies of liquid methane on the moon, but have so far found no definitive evidence.