CASSINI-CIRS

Sep 14, 2017

CIRS dives on Saturn: the ultimate end of the smallest instrument of the Cassini probe

The Cassini probe will finish this September 15, 2017 its mission of more than 13 years around Saturn. On board, the smallest instrument, a detector only 5 millimetres long, was developed by the Department of Astrophysics of CEA-Irfu, which carried it out in collaboration with CEA/LETI (Electronics and Information Technology Laboratory).

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Nov 18, 2016

Saturn distorted by its satellites

First evidence of the deformation of Saturn by tidal effects

Using several thousand images of Saturn's moons produced by the Cassini probe (NASA/ESA), an international team led by an astronomer from the Observatoire de Paris in the Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Calculation of Ephemerides ( Observatoire de Paris / CNRS / UPMC / Université Lille 1), in collaboration with CEA researchers, has succeeded in bringing to light small fluctuations in the gravitational field of the planet.

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Jun 09, 2010

The secret of Saturn's rings

Numerical simulations show new moons forming now from the rings

Numerical simulations peformed by a group of astrophysicists of the AIM-CEA Saclay Laboratory (University Paris Diderot, CEA, CNRS) and the Nice observatory, based on images collected by the Cassini mission, show that some tiny moons of Saturn are still forming now from material of the Saturn's rings, some billion years after the end of the formation of planets and satellites inside the Solar system. The simulations can also give some clues about the formation of the Earth's moon.

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Dec 07, 2007

Flying saucers around Saturn

The unexpected shape of the Saturn moons inside the rings (7 Decembre 2007)

The high resolution images provided by the Cassini spacecraft have uncovered a surprising shape for two small Saturn satellites located inside the rings of the giant planet.

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Division of Electronics, Detectors and Computing for Physics (DEDIP)

Institute of Research into the Fundamental Laws of the Universe