Never-before-seen views of Saturn

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:33 pm

Breaking News report:

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured never-before-seen views of Saturn from perspectives high above and below the planet's rings. Over the last several months, the spacecraft has climbed to higher and higher inclinations, providing its cameras with glimpses of the planet and rings that have scientists gushing.

"Finally, here are the views that we've waited years for," said Dr. Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. "Sailing high above Saturn and seeing the rings spread out beneath us like a giant, copper medallion is like exploring an alien world we've never seen before. It just doesn't look like the same place. It's so utterly breath-taking, it almost gives you vertigo."

Taken from:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-r ... newsID=725

Post by **zong** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:36 pm

Ooooh i love this picture! Great shot from a great project.. I followed the Cassini project all the way until it finished the maneuver and released the Huygens probe into Titan's atmosphere.. then news stopped coming already. Nice to see new stuff coming from the project!

Clifford60 · Post by **Clifford60** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:43 am

Why the rings is below Saturn, from the pic it looks like it? :?

mrngbss · Post by **mrngbss** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:35 am

Maybe the overexposed portion of saturn was much brighter than the rings (which is 'over' the planet). Maybe that why we cannot see the rings at all. hmm...

aquillae · Post by **aquillae** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:29 am

wow, awesome!!!!

yeah i think it's because of the overexposed part.

it's also interesting to see the ring's shadow(s) on the overexposed part.

starfinder · Post by **starfinder** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:55 pm

Clifford60 wrote:Why the rings is below Saturn, from the pic it looks like it? :?

Ya, i think it is because the rings are not opaque, so the overexposed planet shines through it.

Have a look also at this Cassini photo of Jupiter, taken during its flyby in 2000. It is described as "the most detailed global color portrait of Jupiter ever produced":

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04866

The 179KB JPEG image at 100% shows a large amount of close-up detail. Here is the same image resized down.