December 13, 2003: Another Planetary Close Encounter

It was just a few months ago that astronomers were all excited about getting a closer look at Mars, which came closer to Earth than it had been in tens of thousands of years. Another chance comes up at the end of the month when Saturn comes as close to Earth as it ever gets, a once-every-29-years opportunity.

The people at Science@Nasa have the story, including some information on the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft that will arrive in Saturn's neighborhood next summer and stick around for four years, studying the planet and its many moons.

While Cassini-Huygens might make the information totally obsolete next year, you can find out what science thinks about Saturn and its moons right now in the pages of Transhuman Space: Deep Beyond, and then start roleplaying there.

-- Scott Haring

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