pmbryant
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:03 AM
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"Greatest Saturn Portrait ... Yet" |
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Via Alan Boyle's Cosmic Log at MSNBC, here is the " Greatest Saturn Portrait ... Yet" as assembled by the Cassini spacecraft. The thumbnail version from MSNBC: A larger version, but still tiny compared to the actual portrait (2.5 Megapixels, 0.5 MB JPEG) ?x The (huge!) full version (40 Megapixels, 5.7 MB JPEG): ?x The caption: While cruising around Saturn in early October, Cassini captured a series of images that have been composed into the largest, most detailed, global natural color view of Saturn and its rings ever made.
This grand mosaic consists of 126 images acquired in a tile-like fashion, covering one end of Saturn's rings to the other and the entire planet in between. The images were taken over the course of 2 hours on October 6, 2004, while Cassini was approximately 6.3 million kilometers (3.9 million miles) from Saturn. Since the view seen by Cassini during this time changed very little, no re-projection or alteration of any of the images was necessary.
Three images (red, green and blue) were taken at each of 42 locations, or “footprints”, across the planet. The full color footprints were mosaicked together to produce a final product that is 8,888 pixels across and 4,544 pixels tall.
The smallest features seen here are 38 kilometers (24 miles) across. Many of Saturn's splendid features noted previously in single frames taken by Cassini are visible in this one detailed, all-encompassing view: Subtle color variations across the rings, the thread-like F ring, ring shadows cast against the blue northern hemisphere, the planet’s shadow making its way across the rings to the left, blue-grey storms in Saturn's southern hemisphere to the right and tiny Mimas and even smaller Janus (both faintly visible at lower left).
The Sun-Saturn-Cassini, or phase, angle at the time was 72 degrees; hence, the partial illumination of Saturn in this portrait. Later in the mission, when the spacecraft’s trajectory takes it far from Saturn and also into the direction of the Sun, Cassini will be able to look back and view Saturn and its rings in a more fully-illuminated geometry.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Released: February 24, 2005 (PIA 06193) Image/Caption Information
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Dogmudgeon
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:07 AM
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1. The GOOD kind of Shock and Awe |
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Why can't we spend some of the money we now waste on war on projects like these?
It's nice that Bush wants to go back to the Moon and Mars, but keep in mind, it's Bush. It is probably just a way to funnel an extra $15-20 billion into military R&D.
--p!
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shoelace414
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:31 AM
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pansypoo53219
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:37 AM
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astronomy picture of the day has a close up of a giant storm on saturn. way more cool.
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pmbryant
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:47 AM
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4. Need link! (Edit: got it) |
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Edited on Fri Feb-25-05 10:49 AM by pmbryant
Meanwhile I'll Google it. Edit: here it is, the "Dragon storm" on Saturn: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.htmlVery nice, except for the false color. :-) --Peter
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myrna minx
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:49 AM
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tyedyeto
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:52 AM
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8. Cool site.....enjoying the archives |
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So many great pics to choose from.......
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jpgray
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:50 AM
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6. I've got a better Saturn portrait |
pmbryant
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Fri Feb-25-05 10:51 AM
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7. "Most disturbing Saturn portrait ... yet" |
progressoid
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Fri Feb-25-05 11:11 AM
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electricmonk
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Fri Feb-25-05 11:23 AM
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Taken by the Hubble. Still can't believe they want to scap the Hubble.
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pmbryant
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Fri Feb-25-05 02:45 PM
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Though there must be something wrong with my eyes... I'm seeing triple!
--Peter
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RevolutionaryActs
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Fri Feb-25-05 02:57 PM
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Steve Nash is god 13
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Fri Feb-25-05 02:58 PM
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13. Is that real????????? it looks fake |
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Sun May 05th 2024, 03:09 PM
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