Some fantastic Cassini pictures

[silylene]

Quite a few of these I hadn't seen before, and these are the best of the best. Worth seeing, click on the link: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

 

[CalliArcale]

The Big Picture is an awesome blog, and when they do space, it just melts me. I got tears in my eyes from some of these pictures! I think my favorite is the one of Saturn over the hazy limb of Titan -- really gets the imagination going!

 

[robnissen]

Absolutely breath taking, thanks for the link. One thing though, I wish when stars are in a picture, that well-known stars be identified. For example, in picture 10, I would like to know the names of some of the background stars, so I can get a sense of the direction that Cassini is looking. But other than that minor complaint, these pictures are just spectacular.

 

[silylene]

Long Shot
The Cassini orbiter snapped this image of Alpha Centauri A and B hanging over the horizon of Saturn on May 17, 2008. Though we consider Saturn to be a far-off destination, scarcely possible for us to attain, Alpha Centauri A and B are almost 30,000 times more distant.

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Long Shot
The Cassini orbiter snapped this image of Alpha Centauri A and B hanging over the horizon of Saturn on May 17, 2008. Though we consider Saturn to be a far-off destination, scarcely possible for us to attain, Alpha Centauri A and B are almost 30,000 times more distant.

The fact that we can see both stars in that image gives me the shivers.

 

[xXTheOneRavenXx]

It's hard to believe it's Alpha Centauri since most other stars are not visible in planetary photos. But I guess in this case it's because the star system IS the closest to us. Quite the spectacular photo though. Also on Boston.com there are some amazing photos of the Atlantis astronauts repairing Hubble. Thank you for sharing that link Silylene

 

[MeteorWayne]

It seems likely the rings were eclipsed by Saturn, so were very dark in order for the stars to be visible.
They are bright stars at Mags -0.3 and +0.6

 

[CalliArcale]

Long Shot
The Cassini orbiter snapped this image of Alpha Centauri A and B hanging over the horizon of Saturn on May 17, 2008. Though we consider Saturn to be a far-off destination, scarcely possible for us to attain, Alpha Centauri A and B are almost 30,000 times more distant.

The fact that we can see both stars in that image gives me the shivers.

Me too. That is *awesome*.

 

[ZenGalacticore]

Thanks for the link and pics, sil. I especially liked the one that showed all the vortices in the atmosphere of Saturn near the N. Pole. I try to imagine what it would be like to plunge into it to a certain altitude and zoom around horizontally to witness these storms' vertical walls. It must be a very windy-gale-blasting situation down there!

Very cool image of Alpha Centauri A and B. I wish we could get there too!!

 

[MeteorWayne]

Very cool image of Alpha Centauri A and B. I wish we could get there too!!

Well, if you start driving now with a REALLY BIG tank of gas, you can be there in a few thousand years :lol:

 

[dragon04]

That's an amazing image. It's not colorful, it's not particularly sharp, but it kind of boggles the mind that there's a spacecraft taking that image from Saturn and what scale truly is. Both of those stars are about the size of the Sun. One a little bigger, one a little smaller.

And we're seeing them "right next to each other" when actually their orbital distance varies from roughly the distance from the Sun to Saturn (ironic, no?) at closest approach to the distance between the Sun and Pluto at maximum recession.

That, and there's nowhere else in the Cosmos where you can take that picture. Talk about wow factor.

 

[xXTheOneRavenXx]

Well if you took the Delorean from Back To The Future it'll get you there a big faster, lol. Make sure you take plenty of garbage for the Mr. Fusion though

 

[silylene]

That's an amazing image. It's not colorful, it's not particularly sharp, but it kind of boggles the mind that there's a spacecraft taking that image from Saturn and what scale truly is. Both of those stars are about the size of the Sun. One a little bigger, one a little smaller....That, and there's nowhere else in the Cosmos where you can take that picture. Talk about wow factor.

I agree, that photo of alpha/beta Centauri peeking over the rings of Saturn is mesmerizing. I am surprised that a picture with that degree of 'wow factor' (as you called it) remained off the radar screen for the last year, and I only just found it now.

 

[dragon04]

That's an amazing image. It's not colorful, it's not particularly sharp, but it kind of boggles the mind that there's a spacecraft taking that image from Saturn and what scale truly is. Both of those stars are about the size of the Sun. One a little bigger, one a little smaller....That, and there's nowhere else in the Cosmos where you can take that picture. Talk about wow factor.

I agree, that photo of alpha/beta Centauri peeking over the rings of Saturn is mesmerizing. I am surprised that a picture with that degree of 'wow factor' (as you called it) remained off the radar screen for the last year, and I only just found it now.

I suspect that it's just not "dramatic enough" compared to, say, "The Pillars of Creation" for the General Public to really appreciate what they would be looking at.

I'm by NO means a knowledgeable astronomer (I don't even own a telescope. Yet.), nor am I classically trained in Astronomy. I'm pretty much a self-educated hack to be honest. But because of my level of interest and self-education, I understand the significance of what I'm looking at. John Q. Public likely doesn't.

But in the spirit of your post, I also wonder how this remained under the radar of people from self-educated hacks like me and above. I think it's a significant image in several ways. It can teach SO much.

 

[silylene]

Some more EVEN more dramatic Saturn pictures. A MUST SEE.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/saturn_at_equinox.html

What's your favorite?

Here is mine (although I also like the animations!)

15Cassini captured this image of a small object in the outer portion of Saturn's B ring casting a shadow on the rings as Saturn approaches its August 2009 equinox, on July 26, 2009. This new moonlet, situated about 480 km (300 mi) inward from the outer edge of the B ring, was found by detection of its shadow which stretches 41 km (25 mi) across the rings. The shadow length implies the moonlet is protruding about 200 meters, or 660 feet, above the ring plane. If the moonlet is orbiting in the same plane as the ring material surrounding it, which is likely, it must be about 400 meters, or 1,300 feet, across. (NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute) #

 

[robnissen]

The pictures are spectacular. Thx for the link. Although I love the animations, especially the two moons sheparding the rings, my fav. is still enceladous for the possibilities it raises.