We were seeing details in the rings that were shocking. We just lacked the imagination that it would require to predict what it would look like.
Carolyn porco, cassini imaging science team lead
This wonderful quote highlights a key element in exploring complex systems – we have to approach our investigations with a wide open imagination, exploring all possible data sources so we can better understand what drives the systems around us.
In this particular case, no one expected to see towering structures two miles high within Saturn’s rings, but there they were.
How can we look at complex systems around us with fresh eyes and a new perspective?
It’s revealed so much and there is still secrets in that data that will become unlocked. I’m convinced graduate students 20 years from now will be finding things in that data that we didn’t know where there.
Keven Baines, Scientist, Cassini
