NASA’s Cassini orbiter snaps unbelievable picture of Saturn
By Mike Wehner, Tecca | Today in Tech – 22 hrs ago
Science fiction movies have spoiled us on high definition views of our planetary neighbors, but real-life photographs with equal jaw-dropping potential are exceedingly rare. That's what makes NASA's awe-inspiring snapshot of Saturn (hi-res version here) such a stunning piece of eye candy.
Taken by NASA's Cassini robotic orbiter, the shot was captured from the dark side of Saturn as the Sun's bright rays illuminated every piece of dust and debris circling the planet. Cassini has offered astronomers a never-before-seen look at Saturn and revealed more information about the planet than any craft before it. The craft has taken so many pictures of the ringed wonder that they were recently made into a short flyby film that looks like it was created by George Lucas rather than a robotic space explorer.
The Cassini probe was launched in 1997 and took a further 7 years to reach Saturn's orbit. The total cost of its overarching objective of studying the ringed planet stands at a staggering $3.26 billion. However, the wealth of information it has wrought — including amazing pictures like the one above, and recordings of massive lightning storms on the planet — have already made it one of the best investments in space exploration. Hopefully Juno — which began a 5-year trek to Jupiter just last month — will bring us some equally stunning shots of Saturn's neighbor.
How much of that photo is down to image processing and/or the camera? Basically, if I were looking out the window of a spaceship in the same position as that photo was taken, would I see the same sort of thing? Or does it rely on long exposure times, extremely sensitive CCDs, etc?
"So you want to live on a planet?"
"No. I think I'd find it a bit small and wierd."
"Aren't they dangerous? Don't they get hit by stuff?"
andrewgpaul wrote:How much of that photo is down to image processing and/or the camera? Basically, if I were looking out the window of a spaceship in the same position as that photo was taken, would I see the same sort of thing? Or does it rely on long exposure times, extremely sensitive CCDs, etc?
That is supposed to be the dark side, so I imagine you wouldn't see anything out the window of your spaceship. Maybe you could pick out the outline from obscured stars or a bit of the rings.
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andrewgpaul wrote:How much of that photo is down to image processing and/or the camera? Basically, if I were looking out the window of a spaceship in the same position as that photo was taken, would I see the same sort of thing? Or does it rely on long exposure times, extremely sensitive CCDs, etc?
You would see the first rays of sunrise, the rings, and maybe the backscattered light of the rings on the nightside of the planet (to fully appreciate the last, you'd have to not stare at the bright rings or dawn). You probably wouldn't see the stars, or the scattered light from the dust hanging around the Saturnian system unless you stood in a dark observation deck, and made a conscious effort to hold out your hand and block off Saturn and its rings from your view.
Surlethe wrote:Not sure why Yahoo just got a hold of it -- this picture was taken five[url] years ago.[/quote]
I wish this hadn't ... posted[/b] and notice they say Earth is visible. Is that the bright dot right near the bright rings of Saturn, left side? They said Earth is "almost ignorable" in that shot but it's a super bright dot and I wanted to make sure that wasn't, like, the Sun or something that I was seeing and calling Earth.
Covenant wrote:
I wish this hadn't shown up on yahoo, or at least among yahoos. Now all you've got are a pile of people passing it around going "fake, I can see the photoshopping in it." Geez. There's just no pleasing some people. At least they've got some skepticism, but of the wrong people in this case.
Of course NASA would fake shots of Saturn, I mean why the hell not?
Anyways, it's not really skepticism when you spout opinions about an issue you know nothing about ; In order to declare a space picture fake or real, you should, at the VERY LEAST know the parameters under which it was taken (type of camera, wavelengths, exposure times etc etc etc) and of course check with NASA to see if they don't, in fact, outright say it was processed (like they do with nearly everything the Hubble takes, for example)
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
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The APOD page flat-out says it's an "exaggerated colour image", which answers my original question. It looks like the first picture on this page is much darker, and even then, "Color in the view was created by digitally compositing ultraviolet, infrared and clear filter images and was then adjusted to resemble natural color."
"So you want to live on a planet?"
"No. I think I'd find it a bit small and wierd."
"Aren't they dangerous? Don't they get hit by stuff?"
Covenant wrote:I wish this hadn't shown up on yahoo, or at least among yahoos. Now all you've got are a pile of people passing it around going "fake, I can see the photoshopping in it." Geez. There's just no pleasing some people. At least they've got some skepticism, but of the wrong people in this case.
Of course NASA would fake shots of Saturn, I mean why the hell not?
Oh, god those sort.
I just recently had a huge argument with someone over Opportunity and how it couldn't possibly be on Mars because none of his consumer goods lasted as long. He kept demanding that I present examples of things that last 7 years and then dismissing every example that I made while simultaneously refusing to provide any evidence that something couldn't work like that (by, say, presenting a wear analysis) beyond him not being able to think of any examples.
Edit: I should add, I didn't actually expect a wear analysis from him since he's not an engineer (or anything related) and he wouldn't to my knowledge by able to get the information to carry out an accurate one, but that wasn't really the point I was trying to get through his thick skull and into his empty head.
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Covenant wrote:Is that the bright dot right near the bright rings of Saturn, left side? They said Earth is "almost ignorable" in that shot but it's a super bright dot and I wanted to make sure that wasn't, like, the Sun or something that I was seeing and calling Earth.
LOL, no, that's not the Sun. That's the Earth. When the picture first came out, IIRC it was hailed as the new "pale blue dot" photo. (If you look at the unprocessed image, the Earth is far dimmer.)
A Government founded upon justice, and recognizing the equal rights of all men; claiming higher authority for existence, or sanction for its laws, that nature, reason, and the regularly ascertained will of the people; steadily refusing to put its sword and purse in the service of any religious creed or family is a standing offense to most of the Governments of the world, and to some narrow and bigoted people among ourselves.
Covenant wrote:Is that the bright dot right near the bright rings of Saturn, left side? They said Earth is "almost ignorable" in that shot but it's a super bright dot and I wanted to make sure that wasn't, like, the Sun or something that I was seeing and calling Earth.
LOL, no, that's not the Sun. That's the Earth. When the picture first came out, IIRC it was hailed as the new "pale blue dot" photo. (If you look at the unprocessed image, the Earth is far dimmer.)
Ah! Thank you, that's exactly what I was hoping to hear. It is indeed much much darker in the unprocessed image, but it's really exciting that it is visible at all. I'll do a save-as and show it to some people who'll like those kinds of things. Saturn is so freaking far that I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been something much larger or much closer than Earth.
The Spartan wrote:I just recently had a huge argument with someone over Opportunity and how it couldn't possibly be on Mars because none of his consumer goods lasted as long. He kept demanding that I present examples of things that last 7 years and then dismissing every example that I made while simultaneously refusing to provide any evidence that something couldn't work like that (by, say, presenting a wear analysis) beyond him not being able to think of any examples.
Edit: I should add, I didn't actually expect a wear analysis from him since he's not an engineer (or anything related) and he wouldn't to my knowledge by able to get the information to carry out an accurate one, but that wasn't really the point I was trying to get through his thick skull and into his empty head.
Televisions. Radios. Any number of things, consumer goods or otherwise, can last 7 years, some without any maintenance. Blenders. Grandfather clocks. I have a Dell Axim PDA that I got in 2003 and it works just as well today as it did when I opened the box.
If you were willing to pay 50 000$ for your laptop, I'm sure you could get one custom-made to last a decade or more even under abuse, too. It's not like the Mars rovers were bought at a retail outlet somewhere, they were meticulously assembled by hand, by experts in the field, using parts which were also hand-made or the very best of what was available off the shelf.
Comparing that to crappy 1200$ laptops is insane.
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
