Saturn is an interesting planet. It’s big, for one thing — second only to Jupiter within our solar system — and it has that incredibly unique system of rings that distinguish it from its sister planets. But one of the most intriguing things about Saturn has little to do with the planet itself: its moons are attracting more and more attention in the astronomical community, and rightfully so.

In total, Saturn has at least five dozen moons. Its largest moon, Titan, is actually bigger in size than the planet Mercury, and has its own atmosphere. The Cassini probe, launched by NASA in 1997 (in conjunction with the European Space Agency), reached Titan in 2004 and has done a remarkable job of photographing and mapping areas of Titan that have shown it to be surprisingly Earth-like in many ways. For more on the Cassini mission, here’s a very impressive website from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory with all sorts of fun, interactive information. You can even take a virtual tour of Cassini, or of Titan.

But even while Titan gets the lion’s share of attention, another of Saturn’s moons, Mimas, is making headlines this week. You can get the full story from our friends at Space.com, but in a nutshell, Cassini has taken some high-resolution, heat-sensitive images that open up a whole new set of questions about Mimas. Better still, fans of retro pop culture (and who isn’t these days?) can get a chuckle over how Mimas looks an awful lot like the infmaous Death Star from Star Wars… or how the infrared images look surprisingly similar to the beloved arcade game Pac-Man.

Check out the pictures, and the story, and judge for yourself. One thing is for sure: we’ll be hearing a lot more from the depths of Saturn’s moons this year. You can bet on it.

Ever feel like there’s just soooo much to learn about the worlds beyond our world, but you don’t know where to begin? Thankfully, National Geographic knows how you feel. They’ve put together this very cool 3-minute video that is a short, but essential, look at each of the planets in our solar system. Watch it and then let us know: which is YOUR favorite planet, and why?

Once you’ve finished with the video, this link will take you to the Games section of their website, where you can waste a little time hunting down aliens or protecting a space station. We particularly like the game Pluto’s Secret, but we’ll let you decide for yourself which game is best.

The countdown to Spring has begun. Here at Galahad Headquarters, we’ve had our sunshine interrupted by occasional snowfall this past week, so we are as ready as anyone for winter to fade away once March 21 rolls around.

But wait — did we say March 21? According to both astronomers and calendar manufacturers, the Spring season now begins a day earlier, on March 20. How can that be? And why?

As it turns out, there are a few factors, but mostly it can be boiled down to planetary science. Click the link above for a full run-down, but it can be summed up like this:

• Through a process called precession, the earth’s elliptical orbit is constantly, ever-so-slightly, changing directions.
• The pull of gravity from other planets also affects the location of the earth in its orbit, causing the seasonal length to vary from one year to the next.
• The length of day versus night, which is supposed to be almost completely symmetrical during the vernal equinox, is skewed a bit because of the earth’s atmosphere, leading to slightly increased portions of daylight.

It’s also helpful to remember that neither a year, nor a season, is measured by an even number of days. That means that even if it weren’t for all the astronomical shenanigans, over a long enough period of time, the dates and lengths of the seasons are bound to change eventually. The bottom line for us, however, is good news: Spring will be here sooner than ever. Get your sunscreen ready.

By now you’ve heard about the massive earthquake that rocked Chile last month. You’ve heard about the damage that was done to several major cities. You’ve heard about the billions of dollars that will be required to get those cities back to the way they were before the quake.

But there are a couple of very interesting things that you may NOT yet know about that earthquake. Here’s the first: the quake moved the entire city of Concepcion, home to more than 200,000 people, 10 feet to the west. That’s right. An entire city moved 10 feet. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow morning and your bedroom was 10 feet west of where it is right now! And Concepcion wasn’t alone in its relocation, as no fewer than three other cities, including Santiago, Chile’s capital, moved at least a few inches.

There’s more. You see, NASA has determined that the earthquake actually shortened the length of a day AND changed the tilt of the earth’s axis ever so slightly. Neither effect is noticeable to the naked eye, but scientists have concluded that the length of a day is now 1.26 millionths of a second shorter, and that the earth’s figure axis deviated about three inches. Follow the link above to learn all about it from the fine folks at National Geographic.

February was a busy month for big news stories — the earthquake in Haiti, the Winter Olympics, and ongoing discussion of health care reform to name just a few — so it’s understandable that President Obama’s decision to cancel NASA’s planned return trip to the moon went largely unnoticed.

That should change in the coming months, however. Over the weekend the White House announced plans for a space conference to be held in Florida on April 15. During that conference, the president will outline what are said to be “ambitious plans” for the future of U.S. space exploration, and it appears that those plans will include, among other things, trips to Mars and beyond.

It will be interesting to see how this story unfolds. When the president first announced that he was calling off NASA’s previously-scheduled moon mission and looking instead at funding commercial space travel, there was widespread concern that his ultimate goal was to scale back space-related funding. Instead, it appears that his plans include an overall increase in funding, a more aggressive approach to developing new technologies and a long-term timetable for manned flights to the outer reaches of our solar system.

Keep an eye on this story, and as always, feel free to post your own comment or to email us if you want to weigh in!