[X] My Assistant

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Since T11 just concluded, I guess it's not too early to post the science highlights for the T12 flyby:

Titan-12 Science Highlights

Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) - T12 provides the first Cassini tour opportunity for Radio Science (RSS) to observe Titan's ionosphere and neutral atmosphere using radio occultation, and Titan's surface using bistatic scattering. The radio occultation is the second ever of Titan, the first being a sole Voyager occultation in 1980. The measurements provide important high-spatial-resolution information about the large-scale structure of the ionosphere and atmosphere of Titan. The properties of the reflected signals provide important information about the surface region probed (physical nature).

Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) - Global-scale mosaic extending over Shangri-La, Tui Regio, and western Xanadu, including a frame over Ontario Lacus to look for possible cloud activity.

Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) - Search for and characterize midlatitude clouds, aurorae, hotspots, and changes in surface properties. VIMS will also characterize the geologic features, haze and composition of Titan's equatorial region.

Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) - Global mapping of trace species (CO, H2O, HCN) via rotational lines in the far-infrared by conducting inbound and outbound composition integrations.

RADAR – Will add to their radiometry and scatterometry coverage of Titan.

Radio and Plasma Wave Spectrometer (RPWS) - Thermal plasma density and temperature measurements, search for lightning and other radio emissions, characterization of plasma wave spectrum, and search for evidence of pickup ions.

Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) - Observations of Titan's interaction with Saturn's magnetosphere.

Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) - Determine atmospheric and ionospheric composition and thermal structure.

[elakdawalla]

My favorite piece of trivia about Unicron, the Planet Eater, is that his voice in the movie is none other than Orson Welles in his last -- yes, his last -- movie. As much as I loved the Transformers growing up I consider that somewhat of a cruelly farcical end for such a distinguished career as Welles'. (Other well-known actors whose voices appear in the film include Leonard Nimoy, Eric Idle, and Robert Stack.)

Yes, but how many of us actually paid to see it in the theater?

I certainly did!

--Emily
(who has always, in her heart, been a Decepticon. Autobots are boring.)

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

My favorite piece of trivia about Unicron, the Planet Eater, is that his voice in the movie is none other than Orson Welles in his last -- yes, his last -- movie. As much as I loved the Transformers growing up I consider that somewhat of a cruelly farcical end for such a distinguished career as Welles'.

Whoever came up with that idea had an eye for cruel in-jokes. (I remember reading a CNN story years ago headlined "Aging Stars Are Eating Planets", and wondering if it referred to Marlon Brando.)

P.S.: As someone who could tell you more about the history of the Justice League of America than you ever wanted to know, I can't tell you how it warms my heart to see someone else on this site dotty enough to 'fess up to being a comics enthusiast. (Of course, a few months back, Univ. of Chicago political scientist Dan Drezner interrupted his sophisticated blog commentary on international politics to gripe about how annoying it had been for him as a kid that Aquaman always had to be rescued by the rest of the Super Friends. This led to one of his most protracted discussion threads.)

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

P.S.: As someone who could tell you more about the history of the Justice League of America than you ever wanted to know, I can't tell you how it warms my heart to see someone else on this site dotty enough to 'fess up to being a comics enthusiast.

<Gasp> I can't believe this. You mean you and I are both JLA fans? What's next? That're were related?

[dvandorn]

<Gasp> I can't believe this. You mean you and I are both JLA fans? What's next? That're were related?

There are several of us here, I bet. My favorite JLA member was always J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Some of the people who were involved in Mars exploration back in the '60s might have traced their interest back to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter -- but my interest started, when I was five years old or so, from wanting to see where J'onn came from...

-the other Doug

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

There are several of us here, I bet. My favorite JLA member was always J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Some of the people who were involved in Mars exploration back in the '60s might have traced their interest back to Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter -- but my interest started, when I was five years old or so, from wanting to see where J'onn came from...

-the other Doug

We're getting awfully far off the subject of Titan T12; but, yeah, I've always been a fan of the Big Green Guy, who strikes me as a more complex, interesting and melancholy version of Superman. DC Comics did an awful lot of squirming around in the 1960s trying to explain how Mars could have intelligent life despite the fact that the probes in our own universe were revealing it to be a desert; they finally declared in 1969 that the planet had been devastated by a world war, and kicked J'onn out of the JLA so that he could lead the survivors to a habitable planet orbiting another star. Since then, they've completely revised his origin twice; the current version is that all the intelligent Martians except J'onn -- including his family -- were wiped out millions of years ago by a telepathic "plague" unleashed by J'onn's Evil Brother (that famous Martian vulnerability to fire turns out to be a psychosomatic disorder, which when you're a shapeshifter can be deadly), and that the Earth scientist who accidentally teleported him to Earth also yanked him millions of years forward through time in the process. He also finally got his own comic book a few years ago -- and, while it shut down, he's about to get another one. Last but not least, we have learned that chocolate is an addictive narcotic for Martians, with the result that J'onn has learned the hard way to stay away from Oreo cookies.

I think maybe we better move this discussion to another website.