Saturn's Rings To Shine As Never Before |
Saturn's Rings To Shine As Never Before |
Guest_Sunspot_* |
Sep 16 2006, 10:19 AM
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#1
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Guests |
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features/feature20060915.cfm
Ring scientists have been waiting for this. Finally, after more than two years orbiting Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft reaches one of the ultimate vantage points. The rings should shine with majesty worthy of the "Jewel of the Solar System." |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:25 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1619 Joined: 12-February 06 From: Bergerac - FR Member No.: 678 |
Vision of dream...
Are we in Pitch Black? Note : we see clearly the shadow of the secondary miror of the objective of the camera on the first pic. -------------------- |
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Sep 18 2006, 06:50 AM
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#3
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
Note : we see clearly the shadow of the secondary miror of the objective of the camera on the first pic. Nope, that's a wide-angle camera frame. It's a refractor so it doesn't have mirrors. What we're seeing here is possibly the finest image of the calibration lamp and its three supporting rods in front of the optics. Alan, that Tethys shadow image is awesome, nice catch! Also, did you notice the complex pattern of the E ring just in the vicinity of Enceladus ("conveniently" caught just at the ring's ansa)? It looks very disturbed. EDIT: On closer inspection, it's notable the disturbance in the E ring is similar to what Daphnis does. Cassini is above the ring plane (all the images are upside-down) so the orbital motion is counter-clockwise. This implies the ring particles in the inner side have advanced further along their orbit, after being perturbed by Enceladus. The outer edge perturbance is lagging behind the moon. Thus the "wave-like" appearance, though it's not nearly as orderly as with Daphnis, probably because the E ring isn't as confined and is also spread-out vertically. Enceladus is also much more massive than the ring-embedded moons. This post has been edited by ugordan: Sep 18 2006, 12:35 PM -------------------- |
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