Cassini's Eye on Saturn

Named for the 17th century Italian astronomer and mathematician Giovanni Cassini, the NASA probe bearing his name sent back some astounding images of Saturn, which were released by NASA Thursday. The images show a different perspective of Saturn's rings from a more polar orbit. Taken from a distance of only 800,000 miles, the images show distinctive ring shadows on the surface, and some interesting blue and gold coloration of the planet. The moon Dione can be seen orbiting in the background.

In other cosmic events, aside from the coronal mass ejections emanating from the sun, this evening the moon will rise in full eclipse. As it happens, a lunar eclipse and an opposition of Saturn and Neptune are in the cosmic cards this week. Combined with some bearish market fundamentals, that should keep the world's biggest stock market under a cloud, financial astrologer Arch Crawford wrote to clients. That means stay out of the casinos for a while.

Anyway, it's a good night to look up at the heavens and ponder the majesty of the universe that we've only begun to explore. It'll keep things in the proper perspective.