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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 10, 2008

PRESS CONTACT:           
Andrea Potochniak
607 254-4563
arp37@cornell.edu

Over fifty images plus a video façade projection
and a scale spacecraft model on view

Ithaca, NY—The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University presents Spectacular Saturn: Images from the Cassini-Huygens Mission, on view from September 20, 2008, to January 4, 2009.

This exhibit displays over fifty images of the planet Saturn, its rings, and its satellites. This selection, by Cornell members of the Cassini project, was made from almost two hundred thousand images that have been transmitted to Earth since the Cassini spacecraft arrived at Saturn in 2004. It also includes a few images taken by Huygens, a companion lander that parachuted through the dense atmosphere to the surface of Saturn’s intriguing moon, Titan. The stunningly beautiful images were chosen to emphasize the dynamic nature of the system and the interactions of moons and rings, as well as to explore Titan and Enceladus, two satellites with environments that might be hospitable to life.

Cassini was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on October 15, 1997. Rather than flying directly to Saturn, it first looped twice around the Sun, taking advantage of two gravity-assists from Venus and one from Earth to catapult it to the outer solar system, where it got another assist from Jupiter. After a nearly seven-year trip, Cassinireached Saturn in 2004. Cassini released the Huygens probe, which touched down on Titan’s surface in 2005—the first spacecraft ever to land on a moon other than our own.

A spacecraft model will also be on view. The scale model is one-fourth the size of the actual spacecraft, which is 6.7 meters (22 feet) high and 4 meters (13 feet) wide—about the size of a truck. There will also be a special display of historical books about Saturn from Cornell’s Carl A. Kroch Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

A façade projection of images from Saturn will be seen on the east side of the Museum from sunset until 11:00 p.m. between October 2 to 26.On Saturday, October 11, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Museum visitors can “Ask an Astronomer” questions about the images in the exhibition galleries and then create some interplanetary art at a family event held in conjunction with the American Astronomical Society Division for Planetary Sciences National Conference in Ithaca (October 11–14). Visit http://www.astro.cornell.edu/outreach/teachers/saturn for more information about the conference.

Guest curator Joe Burns, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and professor of astronomy at Cornell, will discuss the exhibition as part of the Museum’s “Art for Lunch” series on Thursday, September 25, at 12:00 noon. Burns will also give a public lecture at the Museum on Thursday, November 6 at 5:15 p.m.

The Johnson Museum has a permanent collection of over 30,000 works of art from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. The museum building was designed by I. M. Pei. Funds for the building were donated by Cornell alumnus Herbert F. Johnson, late president and chairman of S C Johnson. The building opened in 1973.

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The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, located on the campus of Cornell University, is open Tuesdays to Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free. The Museum is completely accessible for mobility-impaired visitors, and a wheelchair is available in the lobby. Metered parking is available in the lot next to the Museum. For more information, please call 607 255-6464. Visit the Museum’s website at www.museum.cornell.edu. The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art is a proud member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail: www.DiscoveryTrail.com.

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