Photo # 3 (Jan 2009)

 We will look upon the earth and her sister planets as being with us, not for us. One does not rape a sister.”
                                       - Mary Daly

What's causing this unusual aurora over Saturn? No one is sure. Infrared images by the robotic Cassini spacecraft of the north pole of Saturn have uncovered aurora unlike any other seen previously in our Solar System. The strange aurora are shown in blue in the above image, while the underlying clouds are shown in red. The previously recorded, also-strange hexagon cloud patterns are visible in red below the aurora. These Saturnian aurora can cover the entire pole, while auroras around Earth and Jupiter are typically confined by magnetic fields to rings surrounding the magnetic poles. More normal auroral rings had been previously imaged around Saturn. The recently imaged strange auroras above Saturn's north pole can change their global patterns significantly in only a few minutes. The large and variable nature of these auroras indicate that charged particles streaming in from the Sun are experiencing some type of magnetism above Saturn that was previously unexpected.

There is talk of exploring and possibly colonizing the other planets in our solar system. Beautiful Saturn is an unlikely candidate for anything more than the first, as her gravity is beyond humans' abilities to tolerate. If we survive long enough to fulfill such dreams, will we reach out with our iron fist of exploitation or with respect and consideration for environments that may contain life forms of which we are as yet unaware?
                                      - Daniel Benor