Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons
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Saturn-PIA08212.jpgSaturnian Clouds53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Cassini images of Saturn's dynamic atmosphere, like this detailed view, will be combined with data from the spacecraft's two infrared-sensing instruments (the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer - VIMS - and the Composite Infrared Spectrometer - CIS) to measure correlations among cloud features at many altitudes and infer heat flow across the Planet.
The numerous small, white blobs generally indicate disturbed and turbulent regions.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on May 22, 2006 at a distance of approx. 331.000 Km (such as approx. 206.000 miles) from Saturn. The image was obtained using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. Image scale is roughly 16 Km (just 10 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08213-br500.jpgThe "Ringed Beauty"!53 visitenessun commento
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Saturn-PIA08227.jpgA shadow's over Saturn!53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"The shadow of Epimetheus, one of Saturn's co-orbital moons, races across the Planet's restless cloud tops. Epimetheus cruises along beyond the orbits of the narrow F-Ring and its shepherd moons.
Farther south on Saturn, the swirls and eddies are obscured by the shadow of the outer A-Ring and its two prominent, moon-containing gaps, Encke (bottom) and Keeler (dim, at the A-Ring edge).
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nnmts. The view was obtained on June 30, 2006, from a distance of approximately 335.000 Km (about 208.000 miles) from Saturn.
Image scale is approx. 16 Km (a little less than 10 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08232.jpgHigh Northern Latitudes53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This infrared view looks toward middle to High Northern Latitudes on Saturn, revealing entrancing meanders in the clouds. The cloud patterns transition from puffier looking in the South - possibly a region of shear - to smoother oval shapes in the North.
Cassini's view of high latitudes will improve beginning in late July 2006 as the spacecraft's orbit leaves the Ring-Plane and is cranked up to higher inclinations.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 939 nanometers. The view was obtained on June 30, 2006 at a distance of approx. 336.000 Km (about 209.000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is roughly 16 Km (about 10 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08242.jpg"Flat and Ringless" Saturn...54 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Saturn's low density and fast rotation combine to give it its characteristic oblate shape. The dramatic crescent seen here demonstrates how the Ringed Planet is much wider at the equator than at the poles.
The Rings (seem to) disappear near the center into the darkness of the Planet's shadow.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 11, 2006 at a distance of approx. 2,9 MKM (such as about 1,8 MMs) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 163°.
Image scale is approx. 169 Km (about 105 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08250.jpgThe Rings over Saturn's Terminator53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"With Saturn's Terminator as a backdrop, this view of the unlit face of the Rings makes it easy to distinguish between areas that are actual gaps, where light passes through essentially unimpeded, and areas where the Rings block or scatter light. The gaps are regions in which the brightness varies strongly from left to right as the background goes from bright to dark.
Parts of the image are saturated at left.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 24, 2006 at a distance of approx. 577.000 Km (such as about 359.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 101°. Image scale is roughly 31 Km (about 19 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08252.jpgSaturnian Night53 visiteCaption NASA:"The night skies of Saturn are graced by the Planet's dazzling Rings, but as this image shows, one's view could be very different depending on the Season and from which Hemisphere one gazes up.
This point of view shows that the Southern Hemisphere is much brighter on the planet's night side than the Northern Hemisphere, owing to the brilliance of Sunlight reflecting off the Southern illuminated Rings. The Northern Hemisphere sees only the ghostly glow of the dim scattered light that manages to penetrate the Rings.
The Planet's shadow eclipses the Rings themselves in the lower half of this scene, but close inspection shows ringlets in the C-Ring silhouetted against the Southern Latitudes.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 25, 2006 at a distance of approx. 952.000 Km (about 592.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 124°. Image scale is roughly 53 Km (about 33 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08253.jpgThe "Ring-Masters"54 visiteCaption NASA:"This view looks down onto the unlit side of Saturn's Ringplane. It nicely shows a near-arm/far-arm brightness asymmetry in the B-Ring: The near arm of the B-Ring (in the lower half of the image) is notably darker from this viewing geometry than is the far arm (above).
Imaging scientists believe this to be a manifestation of the reflection of light from the disk of Saturn falling predominantly on the far arm of the Rings. (At the time this image was taken, Cassini was more or less on the dark side of the Planet.) As the B-Ring is the thickest part of Saturn's Rings, it scatters less sunlight from below, and reflects more Saturnshine from above, than either the A or C-Rings, making the effect look more dramatic in the B-Ring. Two small moons appear in this scene as well: Atlas and Pandora (32 and 84 Km across, respectively); between the two moons lie multiple clumps of material in the F-Ring.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 128 degrees. Image scale is 58 kilometers (36 miles) per pixel.
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Saturn-PIA08263.jpgSaturn's Terminator53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Saturn's clouds billow and swirl in the turbulent zones of shear between Eastward- and Westward-flowing jets. This view looks toward the Terminator on Saturn, where night gives way to day.
The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers.
The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approx. 338.000 Km (about 210.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67°.
Image scale is roughly 17 Km (about 10 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08265.jpgThe limb of Saturn53 visiteCaption NASA originale."Saturn's B and C-Rings disappear behind the immense Planet. Where they meet the limb, the Rings appear to bend slightly owing to upper-atmospheric refraction.
Crenulations - such as the irregularly wavy or serrated features - in the Planet's clouds denote the locations of turbulent belt/zone boundaries.
The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The view was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approx. 256.000 Km (about 159.000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is roughly 12 Km (about 7 miles) per pixel".
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Saturn-PIA08270.jpgNight-flight around Saturn...53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Saturn's shadow cuts sharply across the Rings in this remarkable night side view.
The Planet's Northern Latitudes are in darkness in the upper portion of this scene, while the Southern reaches are bathed in Ringshine. On the left, Sunlight filters through the Rings, and on the right the Rings are blocking the reflected Ringshine in the shadow of Saturn. The overexposed, sunlit crescent at lower left marks the transition from Saturnian day to night.
Mimas hovers below center - a tiny bauble, ornamenting the Ringed Giant.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on August 19, 2006 at a distance of approx. 1,5 MKM (about 1 MMs) from Mimas and 1,7 MKM (about 1,1 MMs) from Saturn.
Image scale is roughly 92 Km (about 57 miles) per pixel on Mimas and approx. 103 Km (about 64 miles) on Saturn".
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Saturn-PIA08271.jpgThe "Ringed Beauty" in natural colors53 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This moody true color portrait of Saturn shows a world that can, at times, seem as serene and peaceful as it is frigid and hostile. Saturn's unlit-side Rings embrace the Planet while their shadows caress the Northern Hemisphere.
The view was obtained from about 15° above the Ring-Plane as Cassini continued its climb to higher orbital inclinations.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The image was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 18, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1,3 MKM (such as about 800.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 137°.
Image scale is roughly 76 Km (about 47 miles) per pixel".
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