Blog 2 - Olivia Collins

While in school we are constantly told that there is beauty in everything and I have always wondered if this is actually true. Since beauty is subjective, it is possible for there to be beauty found in most things. Majority of people associate beauty with nature which then has its obvious ties to science. People are drawn to recurring patterns in nature such as patterns on leaves, the stars in the sky, and the ridges on shells. One of the most beautiful things found within the realm of science are the planets themselves. The one that I personally have always been drawn to is Saturn. Saturn’s rings have this glow that almost has a hypnotizing effect on the viewer when looking at it, even just in pictures. 

Part of the beauty of Saturn’s rings is the mystery behind them. It is known that the rings are made up of ice and water. NASA’s Voyager 2 was targeted around Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. There are color enhanced photos taken from Voyager 2 of Saturn’s rings that almost look as it was a painting from a contemporary gallery. These photos, that almost look as if they are paint strokes, show the beauty in the uniformity of the different rings that surround Saturn. These photos prove that beauty can be found in color alone, rather than the obvious forms of beauty within nature. 
The Cassini space probe has shown significant more data in regards to Saturn and its rings. It has shown that a lot less dust enter the Saturn system which is what explains for Saturn’s rings being both ancient but still bright. Another aspect of the ring’s beauty is the brightness it has. We are drawn to this luminosity that the rings create. This glow is what makes Saturn according to many different articles “the most beautiful planet” since both Jupiter and Uranus have rings that are less known due to the lackluster quality of the rings. 



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