Pale Blue Dot, Cassini takes a look back at Earth |
Pale Blue Dot, Cassini takes a look back at Earth |
Jul 20 2013, 07:26 PM
Post
#1
|
||
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
As part of the day to celebrate the Pale Blue Dot, the first raw images have come down, but are not listed on the raw page yet. There are 3 RGB sets of both NAC and WAC images with varying exposure settings. Here's a combined WAC view utilizing all 3 sets to cut down on JPEG artifacts:
The NAC shots unfortunately appear to all be overexposed to some degree. -------------------- |
|
|
||
Jul 20 2013, 07:30 PM
Post
#2
|
||
Member Group: Members Posts: 238 Joined: 15-January 13 Member No.: 6842 |
Stunning image!! Here's my own RGB composite, using simple stacking and a bit of cleaning up.
I'll see what I can do with other images, but http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/ seems to have very busy traffic right now. -------------------- Curiosity rover panoramas: http://www.facebook.com/CuriosityRoverPanoramas
My Photosynth panoramas: http://photosynth.net/userprofilepage.aspx...;content=Synths |
|
|
||
Jul 20 2013, 08:51 PM
Post
#3
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Very nice! No sign of our Moon this time though. Is it very closely aligned with Earth from this perspective?
|
|
|
Jul 20 2013, 08:57 PM
Post
#4
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
The Moon is visible in the narrow-angle shots and it should be detectable in the original wide-angle raw data as well. My guess is it's just drowned out in JPEG artifacts in the raws posted on the web. It should be around 2 pixels to the right of Earth in this image orientation.
Attached image(s)
-------------------- |
|
|
Jul 20 2013, 09:57 PM
Post
#5
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 21 Joined: 2-July 07 From: Kendal, Cumbria, England Member No.: 2649 |
Hi - pulled this from JPL
Earth & Moon -------------------- ......flare today.......gone tomorrow...........
|
|
|
Jul 20 2013, 09:59 PM
Post
#6
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 21 Joined: 2-July 07 From: Kendal, Cumbria, England Member No.: 2649 |
-------------------- ......flare today.......gone tomorrow...........
|
|
|
Jul 20 2013, 11:12 PM
Post
#7
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 100 Joined: 25-April 08 From: near New York City, NY Member No.: 4103 |
Did they overexpose our planet?
Must have been all the waving! http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/W...ni-See-You.html Thanks, folks, for the advance peek! |
|
|
Jul 22 2013, 04:13 PM
Post
#8
|
||
Member Group: Members Posts: 238 Joined: 15-January 13 Member No.: 6842 |
A much better version of my image: http://www.pictureshack.us/images/25119_earth2.jpg
In the previous image, I aligned the raw images centered on Earth, which left Saturn's rings slightly misaligned (this is due to Cassini travelling some distance between taking the shots). Here, I made the rings align more or less perfectly (resulting in a much more natural colour), and "pasted" the Earth from the previous image. Had I known my image would be so popular on Facebook, I'd have waited and posted this one. -------------------- Curiosity rover panoramas: http://www.facebook.com/CuriosityRoverPanoramas
My Photosynth panoramas: http://photosynth.net/userprofilepage.aspx...;content=Synths |
|
|
||
Jul 23 2013, 01:13 AM
Post
#9
|
|
Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 4763 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Glendale, AZ Member No.: 197 |
Speaking of Facebook, the version of the image posted on the Cassini Facebook page (attached) has an exceedingly obvious blue blob. If I didn't know better I'd think that maybe someone tweaked that portion of the photo or cut and pasted Earth from some other image (but what do I know?)
-------------------- If Occam had heard my theory, things would be very different now.
|
|
|
Jul 23 2013, 05:28 AM
Post
#10
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 754 Joined: 9-February 07 Member No.: 1700 |
Is the sun visible under the edge of Saturn?
|
|
|
Jul 23 2013, 09:37 AM
Post
#11
|
||
Member Group: Members Posts: 238 Joined: 15-January 13 Member No.: 6842 |
Speaking of Facebook, the version of the image posted on the Cassini Facebook page (attached) has an exceedingly obvious blue blob. If I didn't know better I'd think that maybe someone tweaked that portion of the photo or cut and pasted Earth from some other image (but what do I know?) What happened is that they used several frames with different exposures. The rings are from the frames with short exposure, the Earth and the lower half of the image is from the frames with longer exposure (which also show the faint outer rings of Saturn). I did the same thing here, in my third version of the image: http://www.pictureshack.us/images/39820_earth3.jpg Here's an example of the frames used: Short exposure - http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=295022 Long exposure - http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/rawi...?imageID=295016 Is the sun visible under the edge of Saturn? No, the Sun was hidden behind Saturn, which is why Cassini was able to take a picture of Earth in the first place. From Saturn's position, Earth appears quite close to the Sun, and there's a risk of hurting Cassini's optics and instruments if pointed that way - unless the Sun is eclipsed by Saturn. -------------------- Curiosity rover panoramas: http://www.facebook.com/CuriosityRoverPanoramas
My Photosynth panoramas: http://photosynth.net/userprofilepage.aspx...;content=Synths |
|
|
||
Nov 12 2013, 03:54 PM
Post
#12
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3648 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
The whole mosaic has now been officially released: http://www.ciclops.org/view/7699/The-Day-the-Earth-Smiled
Very impressive. Dare I say, better than the first eclipse shot? -------------------- |
|
|
Nov 12 2013, 05:58 PM
Post
#13
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2082 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
So many stars and little moons! You can hardly tell which is ours. Enceladus geysers, stars, rings, Earth, etc.
One of those 'spend hours looking and see new details' deals like the Jupiter flyby mosaic... Fantastic work! (New Captain's Log at ciclops.org) |
|
|
Nov 13 2013, 12:00 AM
Post
#14
|
|
Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
Now THAT's beautiful. They are truly image processing wizards at Ciclops.
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 26th April 2024 - 01:47 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |