Moon and Saturn
 Saturn and its glorious rings spread out below the Cassini spacecraft in this recent view. The craft looped high above and below the planet on its most recent orbit, providing the highest-angle views of the planet ever seen. Saturn itself is overexposed in the image to show details in the ring system. [NASA/JPL/SSI]
For something even more exotic, though, you might want to visit Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn: All of its feature names come from "The Arabian Nights." Its impact craters, for example, include Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sindbad, the sailor. And narrow cracks around its south pole include Cairo, Alexandria, and Baghdad.
The International Astronomical Union began naming features on Enceladus after the Voyager missions flew past Saturn a quarter-century ago. Their pictures provided the first close-up looks at many of Saturn's moons, and scientists had to come up with naming schemes for all of them. The Cassini mission, which is orbiting Saturn today, has spotted many more details on Enceladus, so now the little moon has 57 place names -- all from the Arabian Nights.
Look for Saturn quite near our own moon tonight. It's just to the right or upper right of the Moon at nightfall. Saturn looks like a bright star, although it's a bit pale in the lunar glare. The true star Regulus is below Saturn and the Moon. More about Regulus tomorrow.
Script by Damond Benningfield, Copyright 2007
For more skywatching tips, astronomy news, and much more, read StarDate magazine.
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