via slashdot, observations using the Spitzer infrared telescope have revealed another much larger ring around Saturn. This may also explain why one side of Iapetus is darker than the other: "According to the scientists, some of the dark and dusty material from the outer ring moves inward toward Iapetus, slamming the icy moon like bugs on a ( Read more... )

via badastronomy: the actual crossing isn't until September, but Saturn will be on the other side of the Sun then, so the best time to get a glimpse of Saturn "without" the rings is now.

Sunday's APOD is a picture of an aurora taken from space, but it includes my all-time favorite space-visible Earth feature: the Manicouagan impact crater! From a previous APOD: "Formed during a surely tremendous impact about 200 million years ago, the present day terrain supports a 70-kilometer diameter hydroelectric reservoir in the telltale form ( Read more... )

Venus is gliding by Saturn (passing within 45 arc-minutes) in the skies the next couple days -- look in the western sky after sunset.

Here, via badastronomy

This month's issue of Discover has some Cassini moon/rings shots also and one of the captions mentions that Saturn's rings have their own distinct atmosphere composed mostly of molecular oxygen. (First reported last summer, apparently.)

For any astronomy buffs, Saturn, Venus, and Mercury appear within ~2 degrees of each other tonight at dusk. They get even closer on Saturday and Sunday, and by Monday, Mercury passes right by Venus. "This is the closest we'll see them until 2070."