For one, a massive coughing up of oxygen within the planet’s ring system has been found. Another observation is that mixed in with Saturn’s rings of ice particles a "dirt-like" signature has been detected - perhaps material drawn in from Phoebe, one of the planet’s entourage of 31 known moons.

Saturn's moon Titan has begun to yield some of its secrets.

Cassini’s high-resolution camera and special imaging techniques have begun to reveal surface features on Titan. Those features suggest active processes may be at work within the moon.

Today, the spacecraft made its first flyby of Titan, with close-range pictures awaited eagerly by scientists.

"The spacecraft is in an excellent state of health," said Linda Spilker, Cassini deputy project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. "All instruments are operating nominally," she said during a JPL press briefing today.

Donald Shemansky, co-investigator for Cassini’s Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph from the University of Southern California, said the instrument on its approach to Saturn had found a massive amount of oxygen flooded into Saturn’s E Ring.

The increased abundance of oxygen appears to have occurred in the last half of January. The origin of the huge hit of oxygen is not known, he said, speculating that a process involving the planet’s magnetosphere and plasma energies may be at work.

A tinge of dirt-like material stains several of the ice particle-rich rings, said Roger Clark, Cassini team member for the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer from the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver.

"It’s a dirt-like signature. The most interesting thing is that the shape of the spectra looks remarkably like Phoebe," Clark said. Phoebe is an icy moon that was the object of Cassini’s attention en route to its current position of orbiting Saturn.

As the Cassini spacecraft gathers more data, scientists are "in a whirl over what we’re seeing in the images," said Carolyn Porco, imaging team leader with the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "Life is good right now."

Porco said that Cassini imagery of Titan has helped to reveal surface features on Titan. "This is starting to look suspiciously like tectonic features," she said. "This is obviously getting very exciting."

Tectonic features would imply internal processes are at work on Titan, Porco added. "That’s what we think we’re seeing now."

Today, the Cassini spacecraft made a flyby of Titan, whisking by the enigmatic moon by about 200,000 miles distance. Scientists are assessing the data, prepared to report their findings tomorrow.

"The question is, will we see the face of Titan in detail…and what will it tell us? What will it look like? After 14 years of anticipation on this mission, we only have one more hour to go," Porco said earlier today at the JPL press conference.