Just a quick note: The Big Picture did Saturn today, and it’s gorgeous. You need to a) get over there and check it out, and 2) bookmark it or put it in your RSS feed or whatever. It always delivers, and never disappoints.
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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.
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October 19th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
I see we’re on the same wavelength tonight as I just checked it out as you were blogging about it.
Awesome. I’m amazed at some of the images that were just taken a few days ago.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Damnit, I just set my desktop. Now I have to set another one. Oh well, it’s all worth it.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I have a new desktop. The heck with a boring supernova. Rings are IN! One (set of) rings rules them all!
October 19th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Yes, one ring does rule them all…
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/Media/releases/ssc2009-19/index.shtml
October 19th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Whoa! Sensory overload. Thanks, Phil!
October 20th, 2009 at 12:26 am
Absolutely stunning. Seeing actual protrusions and distinguishable differences in composure in the rings is just incredible. The scale eternally blows me away. The inclusion of the star in the long Titan exposure makes that pic completely astounding!
October 20th, 2009 at 1:13 am
Guys, what’s happening in Picture 9? Daphnis is causing waves on the inner and outer side of the Keeler gap, but on the inner side the waves are only on the right of Daphnis, while on the outer side the waves are only to its left. If Daphnis orbits within the ring gap, I would expect to see equal disturbances.
There must be a scientific explanation, obviously.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:30 am
Phil, thanks for the link. Stupendous photos. A terrific start to the day! The amazing beauty and sheer technical brilliance of these photos (”This new moonlet, situated about 480 km (300 mi) inward … The shadow length implies the moonlet is protruding about 200 meters, or 660 feet, above the ring plane.”) are stunning.
How are these images processed to extract meaning/significance? Are there enough astronomers/planet scientists/geographers in the world to keep up with what seems to be a deluge of information-dense data being beamed back from the various expeditions to the solar system? Are the resources forthcoming to keep up with the data or is it being warehoused somehow?
October 20th, 2009 at 2:48 am
Sweet mother of Zeus.
They are among the finest images I’ve seen from Cassini thus far. I mean, check out no. 8 and see if it doesn’t instantly rock your world.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:54 am
Sometimes when I see a picture, I have trouble grokking that it is a real thing in the universe. This is one of those times.
October 20th, 2009 at 6:36 am
I got chills looking at these images. Amazing!
October 20th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Dr Plait,
Just sent you an email about this story: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/10/ff_waronscience/all/1 Great read that needs as much publicity as possible.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:12 am
I think Cassini (and the Huygens probe) have been as spectacular and successful a program as has ever been achieved. The pictures leave me practically speechless. It gives me consolation that if it isn’t in the cards to send man to another planet, the robots can do so much for us instead.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:22 am
My God (just a figure of speech), that’s fantastic. I especially love the pic of Prometheus distorting the F Ring. And most of these are visible light! Someday humans will make cross that billion miles of space and see this with their own eyes. I kinda wish I’d stuck to my plan, finished college and become a planetary astronomer.
There’s nothing like the first time you see Saturn through a telescope. It’s hard to believe the pictures are real until you see the rings for yourself.
I wish Chesley Bonestell were around to see this.
October 20th, 2009 at 8:10 am
@Tim Bennett
It’s a question of which direction the material is coming from, seen from Daphnis. Because stuff closer to Saturn moves faster, it overtakes Daphnis and there the waves (which happen after encountering Daphnis) are to one side. Material outside the gap is being overtaken by Daphnis, so the waves appear on the other side.
So glad so many of those pictures turned out well. Wew!
October 20th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Sheer beauty.
October 20th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Note that one of the comments quotes someone called “Phil”: Holy Haleakala!
I really love The Big Picture, they have lots of interesting stuff. A surprising amount of which is space/astronomy.
And once again, I’m reminded of what we lost due to the HGA failure on Galileo, at least in terms of pretty pictures.
October 20th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Big Saturn?
Is that like Big Pharma? Sucking all the funds out of the planetary budget at the expense of Uranus and Neptune.
SOMG!! SATURN KILLED PLUTO!!
October 20th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
@John Weiss Ah, of course, the rings are also in motion! Thanks, that totally didn’t occur to me.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:13 am
It’s 2009 already! We should be taking vacations there!