Comments on: Big Saturn

By: Timothy from Boulder

Timothy from Boulder — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:01:34 +0000

Both BNO (Breaking News) and the Globe website have reports about the imminent shutdown of the Boston Globe:

From Twitter: “Washington Post: After negotiations fail in the last hours, The New York Times Co. readies plans to close the Boston Globe in 60 days.”

Hope “The Big Picture” finds a new home!

By: John Phillips, FCD

John Phillips, FCD — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 08:12:02 +0000

WOW, breathtaking indeed, thanks Phil. I never tire of looking at the Saturn photo gallery.

By: John Weiss

John Weiss — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:11:53 +0000

Glad to help. We probably *should* consider upgrading our search options to make things easier to find.

By: jf

jf — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:33:13 +0000

@John Weiss

TNX!

I looked only for the May 2007 pics at Ciclops.

By: John Weiss

John Weiss — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:28:49 +0000

DavidHW and jf: How about the original source of that image (as well as almost all of the rest):
http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=3192

CJ Sevilla, Simon Richard Clarkstone:
Simon pretty much nailed it, although ringshine can’t light the anti-Saturn hemisphere so to the extent that there is illumination there, it would need to come from another source, like reflected light from a moon.
http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=5309

By: Got them low-down, no-good, post-ballistics-tests blues. « Communion Of Dreams

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:46:26 +0000

[...] Phil Plait.) 0 Comments No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack [...]

By: Simon Richard Clarkstone

Simon Richard Clarkstone — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:49:29 +0000

@CJ Sevilla:
Enceladus is actually very dim in that photo. Not only is it much further from the Sun than Earth and Luna are, it was also in eclipse at the time. To capture that image, the camera would need to be set to a sensitivity that would also capture the stars in the background.

I guess what direction lighting there is comes from the rings. Notice how the unlit side is not that much dimmer than the lit side.

By: csrster

csrster — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 06:43:46 +0000

kunigget: yes, but in 1972 we thought Saturn had five rings – very pretty, but a bit featureless. Even Pioneer 11 didn’t change that much. Voyager was a real mind-blower.

By: Murff

Murff — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:06:33 +0000

The one where Mimas is just hanging there and you see Saturn’s edge in the background was remarkable. Great for a background image

By: CJ Sevilla

CJ Sevilla — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:22:50 +0000

Can someone explain to me picture 10? I’m naive about the space photos, but from what little I understand of the moon photos, it’s that the stars in the sky were too dim to be exposed along with the surface. The fact I can see the stars and the moon in picture 10 is confusing to me, and I would love for someone to explain to me why I can see both.

By: syrtis

syrtis — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:33:26 +0000

Michael L Says:s

These are incredible! If I understand it right, the natural color images are how we would see the object with our eyes? Why are they grey, and have no color?

About 2/3 of those pics are in plain black & white – most Cassini images are recorded that way to save memory space on board as the colours usually aren’t scientifically useful. A full colour image requires taking three separate black & whites of the same subject through red, green and blue filters and combining them later to make a ‘natural colour’ image.

Ironically, a lot of things in the Saturn system are made up of mostly ice and are coloured grey anyway – pretty much only Saturn itself and Titan have attractive enough hues to make a 3-layer exposure worthwhile.

By: Saturno visto en grande! « Ungaman’s Free Blog

Saturno visto en grande! « Ungaman’s Free Blog — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:05:04 +0000

[...] cassini, iapetus, mimas, rings, saturn, saturno, sistema solar trackback Leyendo el dia de hoy el Blog de Phil Plait, me encontre con el enlace a unas impresionantes imagenes de Saturno tomadas por la Sonda Espacial [...]

By: Dom

Dom — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:44 +0000

I thought 9 was the best, just thinking of all that activity on saturn when it looks so tranquil from afar.

By: jf

jf — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:45:53 +0000

Phil,

it seems you do not like HTML hrefs?

Here is the link for DavidHW without it:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Backlit_Saturn_from_Cassini_Orbiter_2007_May_9.png

And directly from NASA:
http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/view/search/when/May+9,+2007/?q=+Cassini

By: JVannini

JVannini — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:06:53 +0000

WOW!

@Jesse: the very same picture I like the most.

Is really incredible what is going on in Saturns Atmosphere. It completely changed my perception of that small ringed ball I see through my telescope.

It is extraordinarily incredible!

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:43:09 +0000

Picture number 9 is terrifying, except that it’s Way Over There. 18mi / pixel, and dozens of storms visible. That’s a lot of energy!

By: Vorn

Vorn — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:36:30 +0000

#15 is unreal. The blurring on Titan makes it look like it’s hundreds of times farther away than it actually is.

By: jf

jf — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:01:12 +0000

@DavidHW

Btw. there is no ‘original’, as “the view combines 45 images”. I just googled for “Cassini May 9 2007″.

By: jf

jf — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:39:55 +0000

DavidHW wrote: > Does anyone know the link to the hi-res original of Photo #1? Here you go: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Backlit_Saturn_from_Cassini_Orbiter_2007_May_9.png

By: amstrad

amstrad — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:09:49 +0000

pic 21:

That’s no moon, that’s a…. wait… nevermind, it’s Mimas

By: QUASAR

QUASAR — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:27:52 +0000

Nice images!

By: Brian

Brian — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:19:11 +0000

Excuse me while I smack my gob.

WOW those are some nice images. We’re lucky to have such a beautiful ring system to study inside our own solar system.

By: dhtroy

dhtroy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:10:53 +0000

Remelox Says:

I once took my wife out to a corn field far from town with a big long 8 inch telescope

This reads like Astronomy p-rn . . . I’m just say’in.

*:p

By: Ken B

Ken B — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:05:27 +0000

There’s just something about #5 and #10 that strike me as ethereal. I think #10 is about to become my new desktop wallpaper.

By: gar

gar — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:58:03 +0000

Picture #22 is the most amazing f-ing thing I’ve ever seen. It literally took my breath away. God, I love Cassini.