The animation of Prometheus and the F ring is truly amazing.

I’ve submitted the NASA site to Science Videos, in hopes that it gets added to the Space list.

Edward C. – I do think it’s an optical illusion, and someone may come along that can explain it better, but I think it has to do with perspective and the shape of Saturn.

And this passage:

“We don’t go to these exotic locations in the solar system because we know everything that’s going on, or because we know what we’ll expect to see. We go because we don’t know. But we also go because we need to have our positions rattled, our notions shaken, our ideas tested. When we see Saturn from above, or co-orbit with a moon, or see a rainbow reflected in particles of ice a billion kilometers away, the only thing we can be sure of is that we’ll see new things, unexpected things.”

Captures perfectly why such exploration is so very exciting. Curiously, it could also be prophetic, were my novel fact rather than fiction.

Jim Downey

Which brought me to another thought — I remember sending the Bad Astronomer an e-mail about the movie Armageddon right after it came out, which was nine years ago (same “era” of my life) — good heavens! I’ve been visiting your site for almost ten years!!

The track and photos go pretty well together, although for complete symmetry Holst’s “Saturn” should have been playing…both tracks are hauntingly beautiful, although “Neptune” more so. Thanks for the links.

Great!

That having been said, those images are *amazing*! I *so* want to fly my megathron around out there and see this stuff with my own eyes!

And suddenly, the strangest things are happening. I hope it’s not the last time (last time).

[obscure?]

J. D.

The first ones were stunning – deer-in-headlights stunning.

But the animation just made my brain grind to a halt for a full five minutes. Indescribable.

Every time I see the gorgeous Cassini images, I’m reminded of how much we lost due to the high-gain antenna failure on Galileo.

Pretty pretty and yet if you’d go on this thing you would die. How awesome is THAT?

No, what’s really different is seeing it from the *side*. We never get any view from here other than a “full Saturn”. It’s really amazing to see a crescent or gibbous view, something we never come close to from our usual perspective.

And how sad it is that said point is lost on so many people. Seeing this article reminded me of my father’s response to some announcement (long ago) about the unexpected structures that were found in Saturn’s rings. It was sort of a gleeful, “ah-HA! Those scientists don’t know as much as they think they know!” I can’t remember how I felt about that at the time, but I’m glad it’s just head shaker now.

But now–because we spent the money and time to go there and see what we could see–we know a little more about it. I’m glad that there are enough curious people to overcome the opinions of those that are afraid to venture outside the cave to see what we don’t know.

This is why I have this page bookmarked for daily reading.