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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
This is the strangest picture I've ever seen of Saturn's rings. How could the rings be criss-crossing themselves? Of course, the simple answer is that they can't be. Apparently what's happening is that this Cassini spacecraft image shows the rings in front of the planet, and the rings have cast a shadow on the planet. Some of the foreground rings are partly transparent, so Saturn itself plus these shadows can be seen through the rings themselves. Nice one, Cassini. Some human photographers would kill to get a shot like this!
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Here is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Saturn and its rings. If you look outside of the bright central rings to the left, just inside the next ring out, there is a small dot. It could be a moon. But Cassini is looking towards the Sun and this faint dot is us - a distant Earth.
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487
Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487 |
These pictures are awesome! Everytime I see a picture like that it blows my mind! The farthest the picture was taken the more amazing it is!
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
Have a look at this strange picture of Saturn's rings. The rings are seen edge-on, so that's the line going across the upper part of the image. Look carefully and you can see just below the line a dot (which is the teensy moon Epimetheus) and to its right a half-lit sphere (which is the moon Enceladus). At the bottom of the picture there seems to be a number of rings. This is actually the shadow the rings are casting on the planet.
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487
Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487 |
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
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OP
BellaOnline Editor Renaissance Human
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 11,963 Likes: 30 |
This picture between Saturn's rings was taken on April 12. Saturn's disk blocked the Sun so Cassini was looking toward the inner Solar System and the gas giant's backlit rings. At the top of the mosaicked view is the A ring with its broader Encke and narrower Keeler gaps visible. At the bottom is the F ring, bright due to the viewing geometry. The point of light between the rings is Earth, 1.4 billion kilometers in the distance. Look carefully and you can even spot Earth's large moon, a pinprick of light to the planet's left. I clicked to enlarge the image and was just able to see our Moon. (Or maybe I need to clean my laptop screen.) Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA
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Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487
Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
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Highest Posting Power Known to Humanity
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 16,487 |
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