The animated gif of Prometheus and the F-ring is freakin’ awesome. That’s one I’d give anything to see more of than the few precious seconds available. That dust stream is a show-stopper, isn’t it?
I don’t know the elapsed time between frames, but based on previous experience and Cassini’s ability to take frames in succession, I’d say it’s something between 30 seconds and (more likely) 1 minute.
Wish I could see it too. When I click on the link, it starts QuickTime, then says “stopped” immediately. Maybe one of my more recent updates “fixed” it for me.
Leave a Reply
About Bad Astronomy
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
Bad Astronomy is a Wikio Top Blog! Clearly, Wikio has excellent taste.
"If things worked the way I wanted them to, any reporter about to do another 'sensational' story on deadly meteors would consult this volume, and bang! common sense would find its way into the news. How strange would that world be?" -- Adam Savage, Mythbusters
"Reading this book is like getting punched in the face by Carl Sagan. Frightening, but oddly exhilarating." -- Daniel H. Wilson, author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising
Disclaimer
The opinions and ideas expressed in this blog are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of Discover Magazine and/or the James Randi Educational Foundation, of which Dr. Plait serves as President.
November 5th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
The animated gif of Prometheus and the F-ring is freakin’ awesome. That’s one I’d give anything to see more of than the few precious seconds available. That dust stream is a show-stopper, isn’t it?
November 5th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
Beauty. That there is beauty.
November 6th, 2007 at 8:34 am
WOW! That was really sweet. It said it’s 12 fps, but what is the elapsed time between frames? What is the real orbit time of the moons?
November 6th, 2007 at 8:38 am
Dan, look here: http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=1361
November 6th, 2007 at 8:49 am
I don’t know the elapsed time between frames, but based on previous experience and Cassini’s ability to take frames in succession, I’d say it’s something between 30 seconds and (more likely) 1 minute.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:07 am
I wubs Saturn. It’s always struck me as fascinating, ever since I saw it through a big observatory telescope (I forget which one) when I was eight.
November 19th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Wish I could see it too. When I click on the link, it starts QuickTime, then says “stopped” immediately. Maybe one of my more recent updates “fixed” it for me.