After Venus, astronomers getting ready to watch Saturn

After having witnessed the 'goddess of love' dance across the face of the Sun on Tuesday, astronomers are getting ready to watch the unmasking of the planet Saturn -- the 'lord of the rings' -- from Friday.

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Around midnight, the US spacecraft Cassini-Huygens will pass within 2,000 km of Phoebe, the outer satellite of Saturn. It will speed by Phoebe at about 6 km per second on its way in to its rendezvous with the giant ringed planet, which will take place nearly three weeks later.

Discovered in 1898 by William Henry Pickering, Phoebe is 13 million km from Saturn. Astronomers say the strange, dark, distant Phoebe may hold key to several important questions about the Saturn system and beyond.

Scientists suspect that Phoebe was originally formed within the asteroid belt and captured by Saturn. "If true, then Cassini will give us our first look at these primeval remnants of the birth of the solar system," says a release from the American Planetary Society.

At closest approach, the images captured by Cassini's cameras will have 1270 times better resolution than Voyager 2 achieved during the only other spacecraft encounter with Phoebe, which took place on September 4, 1981.

Once the encounter is over, Cassini-Huygens will be on final approach to Saturn entering into an orbit around the planet on June 30.