Comments on: A fresh breath of Saturn

By: richard

richard — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:43:14 +0000

I have two questions that probably someone here can answer.

1) Given that the rings are so thin in height, is there really a visible line of shadow on Saturn when the rings are 90 degress to the incoming sunlight? I always see a shadow line in pictures, and I am wondering if that is because the pictures are not at the exact moment of 90 degreeness (or some word like that).

2) The shadow of Enceladus appears a little stretched in the picture above. Is that most likely because it is to the front left and almost tangent to the cloud surface of Saturn?

Thanks for any answers.

By: bouch

bouch — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:21:54 +0000

I really like the effect of the rings darkening as they get “closer”, to the point that the look darker in front Saturn than they do behind it. Stunning…

By: eigenvector

eigenvector — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:00:59 +0000

Correction: the shadow is of Enceladus, diameter 504 km. The question is still the same.

By: eigenvector

eigenvector — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 17:54:21 +0000

Curiously, the shadow of the rings is tangent to the shadow of Mimas. In comparison the shadow of Mimas seems to be 3 (?) times as wide as the thickness of the ring shadow, but the rings are a few tens of meters thick and Mimas’ diameter is slightly less than 400 km., a ten to the fourth power ratio, not 3x. So what gives?

By: COTLC: Carl Sagan Sings Beautifully; the Forevertron Machines of Baraboo, Wisconsin and Bill Maher’s Endorsement of Quackery, Woo and Pseudoscience | ICED BORSCHT

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:18:27 +0000

[...] Phil Plait points us in the direction of a stunning photo of Saturn… [...]

By: Equinoccio en Saturno « [Px]

Equinoccio en Saturno « [Px] — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:00:51 +0000

[...] CICLOPS [Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations] Categorías:Ciencia, Fotografía Digital Etiquetas:Ciencia, Espacio, Fotografía Digital, NASA Comentarios (0) Trackbacks (0) Deja un comentario Trackbacks [...]

By: Torbjörn Larsson, OM

Torbjörn Larsson, OM — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:55:36 +0000

Funny, I don’t find that saturnine at all.

OOooomm…

[No, I don't meditate. Waste of time, research says 15 min sleep and dream activation will give the same effect and rest the body and increase lifetime. Without the woo doo. Win-win-major-win-and-win.

But I don't think Phil would appreciate if my reaction was:

ZZzzzzz...]

By: Crudely Wrott

Crudely Wrott — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:44:58 +0000

. . . aaannd exhale slowly . . . wwhhooooooooo . . .

Oh yes. That’s better. It’s hard to beat the feeling of one’s frontal lobes coming back on line.

Thanks, Phil!

By: Floyd

Floyd — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:54:10 +0000

#3: Bart Sibrel’s crackpot theory can be refuted by bouncing a laser beam off any of the retroreflectors left at the moon landing sites and detecting the reflected light, of course. But most of your readers know that…

Incidentally, Neil Armstrong, who is from Wapakoneta Ohio, got his engineering degree at Purdue University in Indiana, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Purdue a few months after returning from the Moon. I was a Purdue undergrad in those days, saw the first landing on the Moon on TV, and later attended Neil’s award ceremony at Purdue. I hope to see a return of astronauts to the Moon again (and with luck, Mars) during my lifetime.

About the retroreflectors and what scientists are doing with them now:
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/21jul_llr.htm

By: Melusine

Melusine — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:11:08 +0000

Cassini, the poet of the skies, just keeps delivering. If anyone wants to talk about spirituality in the sense that Carl Sagan did, this would be it. The hard work and dedication that creates these magnificent images reminds me of the good aspects of humanity and that we really are a small dot in the universe; we seek to know and this is our reward. And yes, Saturn is real…so very real.

Thanks.

By: Rob Glover

Rob Glover — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:51:54 +0000

I thought this was supposed to be an Astronomy blog! (ducks, runs away….)
Seriously – beautiful. We are so lucky to have such a planet to view in our night sky.

By: Polyamide Chemicals

Polyamide Chemicals — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:07:02 +0000

Interesting! I enjoyed your post.

By: Spectroscope

Spectroscope — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:47:35 +0000

Magnificent!

By: Ace

Ace — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:26:18 +0000

@#10 John- I’m not so sure it is books on the history of Texas that Tom is referring to, but rather books of History in Texas.

Or maybe you’ve realized that and the sarcasm has breezed right over my head.

By: John M

John M — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 01:19:30 +0000

For Tom above – perhaps Armstrong isn’t in the list of Texas scientists because he’s from OHIO? And he also got out of Texas when he left NASA.

By: TwittLink - Your headlines on Twitter

TwittLink - Your headlines on Twitter — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:52:01 +0000

[...] A fresh breath of Saturn | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine [...]

By: Doug Reardon

Doug Reardon — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:08:35 +0000

Seeing Saturn through the eyepiece of a telescope is always a wonderful sight too!

By: Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum

Richard Drumm The Astronomy Bum — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:03:25 +0000

There was a news story on TV a couple years ago that mentioned Enceladus’ geysers and my wife & daughters were watching. I got to say to Victoria (my version of T.L.A.) “That’s Enceladus! We’ve seen that!” It’s kinda comforting to be that familiar with our universe. All you BAblogees should take the time to look at Saturn, Jupiter and the other planets and get acquainted with their moons.

By: Scott Smith

Scott Smith — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 23:07:25 +0000

Sigh.. I could stare at Saturn or Jupiter all night.

By: andy

andy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:06:35 +0000

So when are we next going to send a spacecraft to visit Uranus or Neptune? 22nd century? 23rd?

By: XMark

XMark — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:21:46 +0000

Whoa… Saturn is always just so dang purdy.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:17:54 +0000

You know what’s also calming? Seeing Buzz Aldrin punch Bart Sibrel in the face. I know it’s old news, but it’s really a satisfying sight.

By: Chris A.

Chris A. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:55:45 +0000

“The magnificent! It soothes” (Need a graphic here.)

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:51:10 +0000

Thanks Phil!
That does calm me down after finding that Neil Armstrong isn’t enough of a scientist to be mentioned in Texas history books.

Tom