Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons
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The_Rings-PIA08855.jpgMulticolored Rings...54 visiteCaption NASA:"Both luminous and translucent the C-Ring sweeps out of the darkness of Saturn's shadow and obscures the Planet at lower left.
The Ring is characterized by broad, isolated bright areas, or "plateaux", surrounded by fainter material. This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 19° above the Ring-Plane. North on Saturn is up. The dark, inner B-Ring is seen at lower right.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 15, 2006 at a distance of approx. 632.000 Km (about 393.000 miles) from Saturn and at a phase angle of 56°.
Image scale is roughly 34 Km (about 21 miles) per pixel".
Nota: il sistema di elaborazione in "colori naturali" non è cambiato ma, come vedete Voi stessi, i colori di Saturno sono (leggermente) mutati. Come mai? La risposta, a nostro parere, deve essere rinvenuta nel tipo di filtraggio utilizzato dalla NASA per l'ottenimento dell'immagine originale in b/n. Questo vuol dire, fra l'altro, che i frames in b/n NON sono affatto tutti uguali (come molti invece ritengono). E' il tipo di flitro impiegato per l'ottenimento dell'immagine originale - ottenuta sulla scala dei grigi - che poi determinerà, in sede di trasformazione del frame in immagine a colori, il "tipo di colori"!
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The_Rings-PIA08863.jpgWhat's inside the F-Ring?!?59 visiteCaption NASA:"These 2 images, taken about 8' apart, show clump-like structures and a great deal of dust in Saturn's ever-changing F-Ring. The images show an object-interior to and detached from the bright core of the F-Ring that appears to be breaking up into discrete clumps.
Cassini scientists have been monitoring clumps in the F-Ring for more than 2 years now, trying to understand whether these represent small permanent moonlets or transient aggregates of material. This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 35° above the Ring-Plane.
The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 23, 2006 at a distance of approx. 2 MKM (about 1,2 MMs) from Saturn. Image scale is roughly 12 Km (about 7 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08878.jpgThe "F-Ring", sinking in the shadows... (elab. Lunexit)68 visiteCaption NASA:"The strands of Saturn's F-Ring disappear into the darkness of the Planet's shadow.
Background stars make trails across the sky during the long exposure. This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 55° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 3, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,4 MKM (such as about 900.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 108°.
Image scale is roughly 8 Km (about 5 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08882.jpgDisturbances...53 visiteCaption NASA:"Daphnis cruises through the Keeler Gap, raising edge waves in the ring material as it passes.
As is characteristic of waves raised by a moon on the edges of a very narrow gap like Keeler, the wave begins as a coherent form near Daphnis and becomes less so with increasing orbital distance from the moon. Daphnis is about 7 Km (4,3 miles) across.
This view looks upon the lit side of the Rings from about 31° below the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 17, 2007 at a distance of approx. 768.000 Km (about 477.000 miles) from Daphnis. Image scale is roughly 5 Km (about 3 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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The_Rings-PIA08887.jpgHeading to the Darkness54 visiteCaption NASA:"This strikingly crisp view shows Atlas heading into Saturn's shadow at upper left. The moon's basic, elongated shape is easy to detect here. Above Atlas, a bright clump in the F-Ring also heads toward the darkness. This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 30° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 19, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,2 MKM (about 700.000 miles) from Atlas. Image scale is roughly 7 Km (about 4 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08900.jpgThe "beginnings" of the Rings54 visiteCaption NASA:"High above the streamers of cloud in Saturn's atmosphere the Planet's immense Ring System begins with faint, thin rings populated with dust-sized ice particles. Here, features in the D-Ring are visible, beginning at about 67.000 Km (approx. 42.000 miles) from the Planet's center.
Stars trail across the background during this exposure, timed to capture the faint light from these D-Ring features.
This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings, from about 59° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 9, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,7 MKM (1,1 MMs) from Saturn.
Image scale is roughly 10 Km (about 6 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08901.jpgThe "Cassini Division"53 visiteCaption NASA:"The Cassini Division appears to emerge out of Saturn's shadow in this Cassini spacecraft image. This Division between the A and B Rings, visible through modest telescopes from Earth, actually contains five dim bands of ring material, here seen near the left side of the image between two small dark gaps.
This detailed view also displays a great deal of structure in the B-Ring, left of the Division. The Cassini Division is 4800 Km (2980 miles) wide. This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 59° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 9, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,7 MKM (about 1,1 MMs) from Saturn.
Image scale is roughly 10 Km (about 6 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08903.jpgF-Ring or just "Saturnian Neon-Lights"?...53 visiteCaption NASA:"Bright strands in Saturn's ever changing F-Ring emerge from the Planet's shadow. The F-Ring usually has a single bright core, about 50 Km (31 miles) across, but the section of the ring seen here appears to have a second bright strand.
Several background stars are visible by the trails they created while the image was being exposed.
This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 59° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 9, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,7 MKM (about 1,1 MMs) from Saturn.
Image scale is roughly 10 Km (about 6 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08905.jpgClumps in the F-Ring53 visiteCaption NASA:"The brilliant core of the F-Ring displays a breakaway clump of material, possibly related to the other objects the Cassini spacecraft has witnessed in this dynamic Ring in the past few years of observations.
This view looks toward the unlit side of the Rings from about 58° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 10, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,7 MKM (1,1 MMs) from Saturn.
Image scale is roughly 10 Km (about 6 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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The_Rings-PIA08908.jpgA huge clump in the F-Ring54 visiteCaption NASA:"The F-Ring dissolves into a fuzzy stream of particles -- rather different from its usual appearance of a narrow, bright core flanked by dimmer ringlets.
Also notable here is the bright clump of material that flanks the Ring's core.
This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 58° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 10, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,7 MKM (such about 1,1 MMs) from Saturn. Image scale is roughly 10 Km (about 6 miles) per pixel".
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The_Rings-PIA08920.jpgSome in the Darkness, some in the Light...53 visiteCaption NASA:"Pan prepares to be engulfed by the darkness of Saturn's shadow, visible here as it stretches across the Rings.
When the Cassini spacecraft took a follow-up image of this same location about 50 seconds later, Pan (26 kilometers, or 16 miles across) had vanished into darkness.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the Rings from about 44° above the Ring-Plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 14, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,9 MKM (about 1,2 MMs) from Pan. Image scale is roughly 11 Km (about 7 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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The_Rings-PIA08941.jpgDaphnis, Atlas and the Rings54 visiteCaption NASA:"Across the expanse of Saturn's Rings, the Cassini spacecraft spies 2 small moons in consort.
Atlas is seen exterior to the bright outer edge of the A-Ring. Daphnis, below Atlas in this view, orbits Saturn within the narrow Keeler Gap. The presence of Daphnis is revealed by the waves it raises in the ring material surrounding it on the edges of the gap. Daphnis and its waves moved between exposures taken to create this color view, resulting in their slight displacement in each color.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the Rings from about 18° above the Ring-Plane. Bright clumps are visible in the narrow F-Ring.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 13, 2007 at a distance of approx. 1,8 MKM (about 1,1 MMs) from Atlas.
Image scale is roughly 11 Km (about 7 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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