Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA
Like Jupiter, Saturn has many moons, and the Cassini space craft sent back some remarkable data, including images, of some of the Saturian satellites. Above is Tethys, an ice moon, with Saturn providing a magnificent backdrop.
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA
Here's a close-up of Tethys's surface. While Tethys is composed almost entirely of water ice, scientists think it was mostly liquid water at some point in the past.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Hyperion is another ice moon, but its strange appearance is reminiscient of sea coral or a sea sponge ("Saturn's Loofah"). It's actually very porous, so debris that slams into Hyperion forms much deeper craters than if the same debris hit other moons.
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/SSI/JPL/ESA/NASA
Enceladus is a geologically active ice moon, spewing ice particles and water vapor into space from the false-color blue "tiger stripes" seen above. This may mean there is liquid water just under the icy surface - an indication that Enceladus might harbor life.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Finally, we have Titan, above, a mysterious world with a hazy atmosphere made up of nitrogen and methane.
Credit: Cassini Radar Mapper/JPL/ESA/NASA
If the air doesn't sound appealing, consider this radar image of the surface, which seems to show a dark sea along with islands and a coastline. The sea may be composed of liquid hydrocarbons, another place where life could develop. Since there is also speculation that Titan has methane rain showers, it would have to be some pretty unusual life.
Credit: ESA/NASA/Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer Team (LPL)
Part of the Cassini mission included deployment of the Huygens lander to Titan's surface. This true-color image from Huygens shows an eerie orange haze over a rocky surface. Things are looking a little more familiar here, until you think about the methane rain thing again.That's just a brief overview of a few of Saturn's many moons. There's no need to venture into deep space to encounter cosmic strangeness - it's right in our own neighborhood. Icy, wet, methane-soaked moons circle the ringed planet for your consideration, just as they have for millenia.
