[ LindaSpilker - 19 - 10:13:50 ]
RE: [n/a] Hi Linda I'm 12 years old Please tell me more about the saturn's ring
Saturn's rings are made up of many billions of particles which range in size from dust grains to ring particles larger than houses. They move around Saturn in their own individual orbits and sometimes bump into each other. Saturn's rings are made up mostly of water ice with a light coating of other material, most probably dust from comets and asteroids that may have gotten too close to Saturn and were broken apart. Saturn has the largest ring system of any planet in our solar system. The main rings are named A, B and C, with other ring names going all the way to G! Galileo first saw Saturn's rings through his telescope in 1610. He thought he was seeing two large moons, one on each side of Saturn. One night he looked at Saturn and the "moons" has disappeared since the rings were tipped edge-on (like looking at a sheet of paper from the side). Scientists finally figured out that what Galileo saw wasn't moons but rings instead. Tiny moons play a large role in keeping the rings in place. We call that process "shepherding" since the moons keep the rings in place like a shepherd keeps the sheep together.

[ LindaSpilker - 23 - 10:19:29 ]
RE: [n/a] What do you do for the spacecraft Cassini or do you work in another place.
I work at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. We fly the Cassini spacecraft by sending up commands to a large computer on board. The computers on Cassini take our programs and commands and "fly" Cassini. We send up enough commands to fly Cassini for about 2 months. Sometimes we send up a few extra commands during that month if we decide to do something that we hadn't planned to do originally. I am the Deputy Project Scientist on Cassini and also a member of the Composite Infrared Team (CIRS). As a CIRS team member I help plan the commands that CIRS will need for the next few months. I am also planning what kinds of ring observations I would like to make once we get to Saturn. I would like to see how the ring particles warm up once they go into the sunlight (just after sunrise on the rings!) This will tell me if the rings are fluffy snowballs or hard, icy spheres. We don't know that yet. As Deputy Project Scientist I help all of the science teams make plans for what they will be doing at Saturn. Building the computer loads for Saturn takes a long time so we are starting now!

[ LindaSpilker - 24 - 10:22:58 ]
RE: [KarenJ.Massey] Hi! We are second graders from Fort Worth, Texas. Thank you for taking our question. Our group question is " Everyone in our school sent postcards two years ago to have our names on the CD on Cassini. How long will it take for Cassini to get to Saturn?
Cassini will get to Saturn in July, 2004. Cassini is a big spacecraft so we did not go straight to Saturn. Instead, we fly by Venus two times, the Earth once and even fly by Jupiter. We do this to get a extra energy so we can make it to Saturn. Each planet is going a little bit slower after Cassini goes by, and Cassini is going a lot faster! We fly by the Earth in August, 1999.

[ LindaSpilker - 28 - 10:28:04 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] What color are Saturn's rings?
Saturn's rings are slightly different colors in different parts of the rings. The rings are made up mostly of water ice (which is white) with a light coating of material from other sources. Perhaps a comet, asteroid, or even one of the tiny moons got too close to Saturn and was broken apart. Remember how the comet was broken apart near Jupiter and then the pieces came back and hit Jupiter? It could happen at Saturn too! The material coating the rings is different for different parts of the rings. For instance, the A and B rings look similar in color while the C ring and Cassini Division have the same color. In the pictures the rings are golden. That is the color our eyes would see if we were there!

[ LindaSpilker - 30 - 10:34:58 ]
RE: [Tish/NASAChatHost] This question via email from Bonnie Bracey- We have a girls in math and science group, and a boy's tech group. We started the GAMAS first, then were pressured into the Boy's group. We felt that with the dearth of science and technology available most of the time for girls a direct intervention and focus was needed, but as we work with the boys there are areas of need, lack of knowledge and need for enrichment showing here. What recommendations would you make for activities for both groups. Should we do some of the things together? We have difficulty doing on line because of teaming , schedules, and the pull outs during the school day so we have our work done after school. Suggestions?We have been to the Star Wars Exhibition, and are working on Marsville and learning from Passports to Knowledge.
I think it is a good idea to do some activities with just girls and some activities together. Sometimes it is easier for girls to get more involved in math and science when they work together. Sometimes it is easier for girls to ask questions and express ideas when they are together. Maybe the girls can plan an activity (such as using a telescope to look at the planets) and then invite the boys to participate. It is important to work together also because in the workplace everyone does just that. I think it is wonderful that a program is in place to encourage students to pursue math and science! JPL has some beautiful CD Roms of the planets and some educational tools as well. The public education office here at JPL could give you more details.

[ LindaSpilker - 31 - 10:38:45 ]
RE: [KarenJ.Massey] Hi! We are second graders in Fort Worth, Texas. We read about you and wrote some questions in our groups. Our group question today is " Some of us are interested in working in space, do you have some ideas that would help us be able to be part of the space program?"
Being part of the space progam is a lot of fun! To learn more about what is going on in NASA you might want to sign up for their press release page. That can be done by contacting domo-admin@hq.nasa.gov. If you have a chance to visit a NASA center that is one way to learn more about what is going on. Some NASA centers and universities also have summer programs for students interested in science and space. I suggest reading books from the library, and accessing educational CD Roms (see my earlier message on this one!)

[ LindaSpilker - 34 - 10:44:14 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] Hi,Im a fifth grader.How big are Saturns rings?
Saturn's rings are pretty big! From the center of Saturn to the edge of the A ring is over 120,000 km. To give you an idea of just how big this is, Saturn and its rings would just fit between the Earth and the moon! The A ring is 14,600 km wide, the B ring is 25,400 km wide and the C ring is 17,500 km wide. Saturn also has some tenuous (very thin) rings outside the main A,B and C rings which are very extended. For instance the E ring is 300,000 km wide and extends across the orbits of several moons!

[ LindaSpilker - 36 - 10:46:46 ]
RE: [Gayle/BanyanTree] Are your children also scientifically oriented and or interested in scientific fields? Have they ever helped you with your research in any way?
My two daughters both enjoy and do well in math and science. Their classes have visited JPL and I have lectured to their classes too. They both have joined me for "Take our children to work" day. I talk to them about my research so they will understand just what I do each day! They have not specifically helped with a research project but that is an interesting idea!

[ LindaSpilker - 37 - 10:48:27 ]
RE: [KarenJ.Massey] Hi! Our group question is "How big is Saturn?" Thank you for talking to us.
Saturn is the second biggest planet in the solar system. It is 60,330 km in diameter, although it is not a perfect sphere. Saturn is flattened at the poles because it spins so fast. Saturn is also light for a planet. If you could build a bathtub big enough it would float!

[ LindaSpilker - 43 - 10:52:21 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] I would like to know how saturn's rings stay up in the air. I am a 5th grader.
Saturn's rings stay up in the same way our moon stays up or the shuttle stays up-- using gravity. Each individual ring particle is like a tiny moon with its own orbit. The ring particles have enough energy to let them keep orbiting Saturn for a long time. Sometimes a ring particle gets too close to Saturn's atmosphere (it might get bumped there by another ring particle). Saturn's air slows it down and it falls into Saturn's atmosphere and burns up.

[ LindaSpilker - 44 - 10:53:37 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] Even though you're talking about Saturn, what is the Big Red Spot on Jupiter?
The big Red Spot on Jupiter is a giant storm, like a hurricane. That storm has been there since Galileo first looked at Jupiter with his telescope in 1610. By studying big storms like the Red Spot we hope to learn more about how atmospheres work and apply that to the Earth's atmosphere.

[ LindaSpilker - 46 - 10:58:09 ]
RE: [KarenJ.Massey] We need to go back to class. Thank you for answering our questions and spending some time with us. If you have time, please answer our last questions and we will read it later. "What do you like best about your job? Will we be getting pictures from Cassini?"
What I like best about my job is the opportunity to make discoveries and participate in the exploration of worlds that we know so little about. During the Voyager encounters with Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune it was hard to find time to sleep because so many interesting discoveries were being made. With Cassini I look forward to helping answer some important questions about Saturn, its rings, moons and magnetosphere. In particular, I hope to find out some new things about Saturn's rings. We will be getting thousands of pictures from Cassini once we get to Saturn. We will make movies of Saturn rotating on its axis to study its weather. We will make movies of the rings so we can better understand how they work and we will take close-up photos of all of the moons. Wow, I can't wait!

[ LindaSpilker - 47 - 10:59:53 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] Hi! I am a fifth grader at Rural Hall, my question is, Do you think you will make any big discoveries?
A lot of questions remain unanswered about Saturn's rings. Maybe I can help figure out if the rings are fluffy snowballs or hard ice balls from using data I will be taking with the Composite Infrared Spectrometer. I am also using Voyager data to try to find moons that we did not see in the Voyager pictures. Then Cassini will know where to look once we get there.

[ LindaSpilker - 48 - 11:01:52 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] Hi! Linda, I am a fifth grader at Rural Hall Elementry. My question is, How do you like working for different space groups?
Yes, I like working with different space groups. Sometimes answers come from putting together ideas from many different groups. For instance, to understand the rings we need data from the cameras and other remote sensing instruments (infrared, and ultraviolet spectrometers) as well as information from the fields and particles experiments, a very different group of experiments.

[ LindaSpilker - 50 - 11:06:29 ]
RE: [mcdermon/RuralHall] What is the best part about working with Jet Propulsion Lab?
The best part about working at JPL is having the opportunity to explore other planets and understand how these worlds work. Much of what we learn about other planets we try to apply to our own planet, the Earth. I especially enjoy learning about how ring systems work. Learning more about how the rings evolve can tell us about the evolution of our own solar system. I am part of a group proposing a new mission to Mercury. We would like to send an orbiter to Mercury to map this planet closest to the sun. Only one other spacecraft has visited Mercury and that was over 20 years ago. I'd like to go back there and learn more!

[ LindaSpilker - 53 - 11:13:56 ]
RE: [Tish/NASAChatHost] /r [ mcdermon/RuralHall - 33 - 10:39:32 ] Hi,I'm a fifth grader and my question is, what kept you interested in science through school?
I kept interested in science in school for several reasons. First, during this time we were flying all of the Apollo missions to the moon. I used to read everything I could on Apollo and even thought about being an astronaut. I also followed NASA's early missions to Venus, Mars and Mercury. I loved to read and read lots of books on the planets, stars, and astronomy. Many of my teachers also encouraged my interest in science and math. They would tell me about good books to read or just spend time talking to me about what they knew about astronomy. I also had my own telescope and used to spend time looking at the planets and stars and wondering about what was up there. I found science interesting and challenging and still enjoy it very much today!