Way back when I was a kid I saw a picture of Saturn in a Time-Life book. That image embodied all the ideas I had about space travel at that time (which I admit were inflamed by the astronauts going up in the Gemini capsules and orbiting the Earth). Saturn was cool and remote and just about the most fascinating place I could think of. I remember wondering about those rings — what were they made of? Could we fly through them?

Some years later as a newspaper writer I covered the Voyager 2/Saturn encounter and learned more about this wonderful planet than I ever thought possible. So, it’s with a great deal of interest I watch out for Cassini mission images as this last of the grand explorers makes its way closer to the ringed planet. Early last month, Cassini delivered this image back to waiting mission scientists. You can make out ring features, the cloud-tops, and one of the planet’s moons. Cassini will arrive at its destination next July (2004) and settle into a circular orbit ideal for study and mapping. Later, it will send the Huygens probe to the surface of Titan, giving us a great look (we hope) at what’s hiding beneath the clouds that shroud the moon from our view. It’s been long time since we’ve had a probe out at Saturn (since 1981, actually). I can’t wait to see what we find this time!