Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On March 8, 2011 @ 7:40 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
[1]
Titan, Rings, and Saturn from Cassini
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team [2], ISS [3], JPL [4], ESA [5], NASA [6]
Explanation: How thin are the rings of Saturn? Brightness measurements [7] from different angles have shown Saturn’s rings [8] to be about one kilometer thick, making them many times thinner, in relative proportion, than a razor blade [9]. This thinness sometimes appears [10] in dramatic fashion [11] during an image taken nearly along the ring plane. The robot Cassini spacecraft [12] now orbiting Saturn [13] has now captured another shot that dramatically highlights the ring’s thinness. The above image [14] was taken in mid January in infrared [15] and polarized [16] light. Titan [17] looms just over the thin rings, while dark ring shadows [18] on Saturn show the Sun to be above the ring [19] plane. Close inspection [20] of the image will show the smaller moon Enceladus [21] on the far right. Cassini, humanity’s first mission to orbit Saturn [22], currently has operations planned [23] until 2017.
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [24]
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URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/03/08/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-28/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/titansaturn_cassini_1018.jpg
[2] Cassini Imaging Team: http://ciclops.org/
[3] ISS: http://ciclops.org/iss/iss.php
[4] JPL: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
[5] ESA: http://www.esa.int/
[6] NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/
[7] Brightness measurements: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997Icar..129..555B
[8] Saturn’s rings: http://www.planetary.org/saturn/rings.html
[9] razor blade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razor
[10] sometimes appears: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051021.html
[11] dramatic fashion: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap950801.html
[12] robot Cassini spacecraft: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/spacecraft/index.html
[13] Saturn: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/profile.cfm?Object=Saturn
[14] above image: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12756
[15] infrared: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared
[16] polarized: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uS4e1teka8
[17] Titan: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060508.html
[18] ring shadows: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100215.html
[19] ring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p-AOsb4bdA
[20] Close inspection: http://charleykanesfunhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/funny-cat-picture-regrets-latest-garbage-raid.jpg
[21] Enceladus: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090628.html
[22] Saturn: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=18015
[23] operations planned: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/newsreleases/newsrelease20100203/
[24] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
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