Awesome pic: In the shadow of Saturn

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-12-02 10:23pm

This picture just made my jaw drop. It's taken from the Cassini orbiter from the dark side of Saturn eclipsing the Sun. On the left, you can just see the tiny pale blue dot that is Earth through the rings.

This is a real picture NOT an artist's impression, which was what I initially thought it is.

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061016.html

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2006-12-02 10:34pm

With a little tweaking of the full size image, that is now by desktop background.

Cao Cao · Post by **Cao Cao** » 2006-12-02 10:38pm

Ah if only I could live long enough to be out there and see these sights first hand.
Quite an interesting scene - it really does look like art.

darthbob88 · Post by **darthbob88** » 2006-12-02 10:52pm

[nitpick]Doesn't this belong in AMP?[/nitpick]

Very cool. Now if only I could see it in person, I would die a happier man for that.

Crossroads Inc. · Post by **Crossroads Inc.** » 2006-12-02 11:02pm

As a graphics artis its really really hard for e to accept that as real.. Of course I have no reason to doubt the source.. Perhaps we poor Earth bound people cannot yet imagine some of the sights the Heavens have for us?

JLTucker · Post by **JLTucker** » 2006-12-02 11:11pm

Crossroads Inc. wrote:As a graphics artis its really really hard for e to accept that as real.. Of course I have no reason to doubt the source.. Perhaps we poor Earth bound people cannot yet imagine some of the sights the Heavens have for us?

I agree. That does not look real.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-12-02 11:26pm

If you look at the full size pic, the seams where the mosaic was connected together can easily be seen (the Cassini's camera's field of view is nowhere big enough to image this in one field), and other image artifacts can also easily be seen, including cosmic ray hits on the CCD.

Cao Cao · Post by **Cao Cao** » 2006-12-02 11:51pm

I imagine that the sunlight reflecting off of the rings is what gives it such an ethereal, "fake" effect.
It could also be because we're so used to sci-fi shots of planets with starry backdrops

wilfulton · Post by **wilfulton** » 2006-12-02 11:58pm

The only way we'll ever be able to see what sights the heavens have for us is to go out there and see them ourselves, which is why I've been a supporter of the Space Program.

Of course, some of these spacecraft do also see in wavelengths of light that we cannot. Many of these images are enhanced by infrared and ultraviolet.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2006-12-03 12:07am

JLTucker wrote:
Crossroads Inc. wrote:As a graphics artis its really really hard for e to accept that as real.. Of course I have no reason to doubt the source.. Perhaps we poor Earth bound people cannot yet imagine some of the sights the Heavens have for us?
I agree. That does not look real.

It's real. But it has been image-processed. The link itself says that that NASA enhanced the colors in the image to make them stand out better. If you saw it with your own eyes, it would be much more muted.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-12-03 11:34am

Needs more lensflare.

Other than that, it's going in my ever growing collection of astronomy pictures.

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2006-12-03 11:43am

Geez.

The Silence and I · Post by **The Silence and I** » 2006-12-04 12:48am

It looks like the unaltered image can be found here, the one at the top of the page: Link

As amazing as this is (and... I have no words) it is even more amazing to me how little color enhancement seems to have been performed on the original.

Just, beautiful.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2006-12-04 06:54am

Gorgeous.

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2006-12-04 08:31am

...Holy shit. That is just supremely awesome.

Raesene · Post by **Raesene** » 2006-12-04 09:53am

NASA, ESA etc. should get more money for probes - I want more variation on my desktop

a pity that JIMO was cancelled, imagine similar pictures from Jupiter...
perhaps Juno can deliver something.

GrandMasterTerwynn · Post by **GrandMasterTerwynn** » 2006-12-04 01:09pm

Raesene wrote:NASA, ESA etc. should get more money for probes - I want more variation on my desktop ;-)

a pity that JIMO was cancelled, imagine similar pictures from Jupiter...
perhaps Juno can deliver something.

Well, we should be getting some really nice flyby pictures of Jupiter when New Horizons passes Jupiter in early 2007 on its way to Pluto. We might get a few more from Cassini if, in the future, they decide that disposing of it in Saturn is too risky, and they decide to send it to Jupiter for disposal. (Near the end of Cassini's useful lifespan, it needs to be disposed of in a way that minimizes the risk that the probe will impact on an interesting and potentially life-friendly body, like Titan or Enceladus. This would mean sending it on a suicide dive into Saturn, except Saturn has this immense debris field otherwise known as 'rings' that the probe would have to spend an extended period of time in before reaching Saturn. There could be a slight, but non-trivial risk that a collision could render the probe uncontrollable. As a result, they might send it on a number of successive flybys of Titan until it gains enough energy from the gravitational interactions to break free and be dispatched on a course to crash somewhere where there is no chance of contamination. Incidentally, the same decision was made for the Galileo probe which orbited Jupiter, since scientists didn't want to risk an inert probe crashing into and contaminating Europa.)

dr. what · Post by **dr. what** » 2006-12-04 03:27pm

It is truly beautiful, but I could never look at the rings the same way after learning about the Legend of the Holy Prepuce.

Holy (Cock)Rings of Saturn!

Oh jeez--I am SO going to hell for that one......

Raesene · Post by **Raesene** » 2006-12-04 04:15pm

dr. what wrote:It is truly beautiful, but I could never look at the rings the same way after learning about the Legend of the Holy Prepuce.

Holy (Cock)Rings of Saturn!

Oh jeez--I am SO going to hell for that one......

ewwww

catholics can be strange... but whose foreskins are circling the other gas giants

?

concerning disposal: not that I'm against sending it back to Jupiter and getting some more data that way, but is it impossible to pass the over/under the rings ? A swingby of one of the moons could send it over them, and Saturn's gravity could force it in an instable orbit so that it burns up. Is this too complicated and geometrically not feasible ? (not sure about the distance inner ring/Saturn, which might render this impossible)

2000AD · Post by **2000AD** » 2006-12-04 05:13pm

The Silence and I wrote:It looks like the unaltered image can be found here, the one at the top of the page: Link

I just love those annotaions: 'Blue' 'Bluer' 'Reddish' 'Redder'. For something so beautiful they could have come up with some more artistic annotations.

kheegster · Post by **kheegster** » 2006-12-06 02:30pm

I just noticed that this same pic is on the cover of this month's issue of National Geographic. There more incredible pictures in the article as well.