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 16 2006, 12:16 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 73 Joined: 14-June 05 From: Cambridge, MA Member No.: 411 |
It doesn't say, but the Solar System Simulator shows the occultation - of the planet, not the rings - occurring from about 7:00 UTC to 23:00 UTC on the 15th, which is 3:00 AM EDT -7:00 PM EDT on the 15th. And it does say the images will be sent to Earth on the 17th. They should be spectacular!
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Sep 17 2006, 05:25 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 509 Joined: 2-July 05 From: Calgary, Alberta Member No.: 426 |
I am looking forward to this one too.
Another interesting thing about this set of observations is that, given the long exposure times needed to bring out details in the D, G and E rings, we're probably going to see the inner planets in some of the images. Earth, and especially Venus, will be easiest; each should fill up about a fifth of a pixel (in the wide angle camera). As luck would have it, the Moon was almost at its greatest elongation from Earth, as seen from Saturn, on September 15th. Seen through the wide-angle camera, it should be about four pixels away from the Earth, and about four magnitudes fainter. I wonder if it will be visible? Guess it will depend on the amount of smearing due to spacecraft motion (which, now that I think of it, would likely cause the Earth to overwrite the Moon anyways). |
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Sep 17 2006, 07:52 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 700 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 |
First images are now posted, including some remarkable, though overexposed, images of sunset behind Saturn...
Shouldn't this thread be moved to the Cassini subforum? John. |
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Sep 17 2006, 08:05 PM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
Amazing how bright the "gap" between the outer edge of A ring and the F ring is here. The F ring is brilliant and the Encke gap is notably dusty as well.
It's a shame a vast sequence of Saturn's limb, multi-filter frames got severly overexposed and suffers from charge bleeding. Hopefully the wide-angles will turn out better. -------------------- |
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Sep 17 2006, 08:53 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 700 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 |
Here's the money shot - Earth (just below the A-ring ansa), Enceladus+plume (upper right), and the E and G rings, as well as the main ring system! North is at the bottom.
John. |
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Sep 17 2006, 08:54 PM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1887 Joined: 20-November 04 From: Iowa Member No.: 110 |
Spokes in the E-ring?
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...3/W00018033.jpg http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...3/W00018036.jpg Enceladus in the E-ring http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...3/W00018011.jpg E-ring distorted by Enceladus http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...3/W00017915.jpg Diamond ring effect http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...3/W00017924.jpg |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:06 PM
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 |
Ba-Zing!.
Diamond ring. The stitched/processed HDR version of this image set is going to be utterly spectacular. My thanks to all involved in the mission for the amazing images and the opportunity for nerds like me to see them when they come down. |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:14 PM
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#9
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3233 Joined: 11-February 04 From: Tucson, AZ Member No.: 23 |
-------------------- &@^^!% Jim! I'm a geologist, not a physicist!
The Gish Bar Times - A Blog all about Jupiter's Moon Io |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:21 PM
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#10
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
The dynamic range involved in trying to capture the 'halo', the lit rings, and the E ring makes it almost impossible to capture in one image - but this is my best guess.
I see that the sequence made the effort to do multiple exposures in each filter set - but there was some down-sampling in some of the exposures. When this lot hits the PDS I'm sure Bjorn et al will work wonders on it Vio+IR is just enough to make something interesting By explanation - would it be enough to say that just about everything is saturated and scattering of light from the rings is lighting the 'eclipsed' rings as well? Doug |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:24 PM
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#11
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1887 Joined: 20-November 04 From: Iowa Member No.: 110 |
Reflection of opposition surge off the cloud tops? Edit : scratch that, the pattern is wrong. Sunlight reflected of rings onto Saturn, Dark bands are areas where light from cloud tops is blocked by A and B rings. Bright area is cut of in curve at the bottom because this area is north of equator so no sunlight reflected directly from rings |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:25 PM
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#12
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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 17 2006, 09:25 PM
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#13
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Member Group: Members Posts: 562 Joined: 29-March 05 Member No.: 221 |
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Sep 17 2006, 09:45 PM
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#14
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1619 Joined: 12-February 06 From: Bergerac - FR Member No.: 678 |
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Sep 17 2006, 10:19 PM
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#15
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 20-November 05 From: Mare Desiderii Member No.: 563 |
In this one, what's the overexposed elliptical feature inside the limb? Is it an artifact?
It couldn't be a highly-refracted image of the Sun's disc, could it? (I assume not -- isn't that what the continuous ring all the way around the limb is, effectively?) In neighbouring images (which I guess let more light in) the same region bleeds vertically (1, 2, 3). |
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