Cassini Raw Images |
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Cassini Raw Images |
 Oct 12 2009, 10:47 PM
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#121
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 Senior Member  Group: Admin Posts: 1178 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615  |
Time to totally blow your minds!!!
 I was looking through a 159 frame set of images that showed a tiny portion of Saturn's sunlit limb. There were lots of streaks in the images and at first I thought it was just cosmic ray strikes, but they were too regular and moved in a constant stream throughout the 159 frames. I animated them and they certainly looked very cool....but then...! I did a gamma enhancement on the images and in the background something amazing caught my eye.... SATURN'S AURORA!!!
OMG!!! In full motion!!! Incredible. The full file it too big to post here, so I've put a cropped version on my blog here (Warning 3.62mb) EDIT: Full version here (Warning 9.83mb) PS: If someone has an explanation for the consistency of the streaks I'd be grateful. Mystery solved (see post below)! EDIT: Relinked the above images to versions rotated 180 degrees. It all makes much more sense. -------------------- |
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Oct 12 2009, 11:12 PM
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#122
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 197 Joined: 25-March 05 Member No.: 217 |
OMG Indeed that is spectacular.
Very well done Astro0  Roy |
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Oct 12 2009, 11:13 PM
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#123
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 4766 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
..Show my mind blown! What's the interval between those frames, Astro0? Those streaks look almost like co-rotating particles (exhaust condensates hanging around Cassini?) The aurorae are megacool, of course! -------------------- Yet as we leave, as we continue the often humbling maturation process of learning, it is wise to remember that we also have much to unlearn.
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Oct 12 2009, 11:16 PM
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#124
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 1178 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
nprev - no idea of the timing between images. If someone can work that out then fantastic.
Image sequence N00143511 to N00143352 -------------------- |
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Oct 12 2009, 11:16 PM
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#125
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 Dublin Correspondent Group: Admin Posts: 1590 Joined: 28-March 05 From: Celbridge, Ireland Member No.: 220 |
Absolutely amazing. I'm also curious about the streaks vs the static points - are they background stars while the static points are just noisier pixels, or are they just imaging\processing artefacts??
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Oct 12 2009, 11:20 PM
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#126
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 The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 3845 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Holy frak...
I went to bed last night after scanning the Kepler field of view through my binoculars, and sensing countless 'alien Earths' were within it... I got up this morning to see new images of a billions of years old meteorite sitting on the dusty plains of Mars... now I'm going to bed having seen the aurora of the Lord of The Rings fluttering and flapping on my screen... We are all truly blessed to be here at this time. Congratulations Astro0, that sequence will probably go global tomorrow.
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Oct 13 2009, 02:03 AM
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#127
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2232 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Research Triangle Park, NC Member No.: 1345 |
Wow!
Nice catch! That is outstanding!! -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Oct 13 2009, 02:28 AM
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#128
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 1178 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
OK Emily solved the mystery of the streaks for me (and helvick had the idea right too).
Rotate the image 180 degrees...kind of a D'oh! moment....sort of the 'mound becomes a crater' when viewed upsidedown
The streaks are not in the foreground, they are the background stars. The aurora makes way more sense rotating around the planet (I've highlighted the horizon). I've reposted the files to my blog - cropped version here (3.62mb) and full version here (9.83mb) -------------------- |
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Oct 13 2009, 05:36 AM
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#129
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 Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3074 Joined: 15-March 05 From: Elk Grove, CA Member No.: 197 |
Just fantastic. Congratulations Astro0 on spotting this amazing feature!
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Oct 13 2009, 05:46 AM
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#130
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 1178 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
Congratulations to the Cassini team for taking the images. What a wonderful set of observations they have made...and effect they have discovered!
 There are hundreds of more images in the sequence that I haven't downloaded yet. I expect that there's a lot more to see here
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Oct 13 2009, 09:38 AM
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#131
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 Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2113 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
Now THAT made me forget my tooth pain...Amazing work!
-------------------- BEYOND THE CRADLE blog
"Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!" Edgar Alan Poe |
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Oct 13 2009, 09:46 AM
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#132
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 Interplanetary Dumpster Diver Group: Moderator Posts: 3420 Joined: 17-February 04 From: Powell, TN Member No.: 33 |
Great find!
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Oct 13 2009, 10:47 AM
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#133
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3082 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
That's got to be one of the best movies from Cassini, ever! I can't wait to see what it looks like with calibrated data, without the hot pixels and jpeg artifacts. Great find, Astro0!
The aurora seems to rotate, I wonder if its due to Saturn's rotation or if it's connected to orbital motion of one of the moons? |
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Oct 13 2009, 04:09 PM
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#134
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Member Group: Members Posts: 427 Joined: 4-September 06 From: Boston Member No.: 1102 |
They could also be looking for moons. There may be one or more moving at a slightly different direction than the hord of background stars. Really interesting.
-------------------- Floyd
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Oct 13 2009, 08:53 PM
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#135
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2290 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Anecdote: My daughter just 'phoned' via computer from Germany and as we spoke I directed her to the aurora animation. She was very impressed. Just one more to add to the number. Well done all concerned!
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 30th July 2010 - 11:32 PM |
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