Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons
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The_Rings-Shadow-N00127580.jpgEclipsing the Rings (1)56 visiteL'impressione iniziale? C'è un (gigantesco!) UFO nei pressi dell'Anello "B" di Saturno!
La realtà? Si tratta dell'ombra, affusolata, di una delle tante lune del Gigante Anellato (onestamente non abbiamo idea di quale sia, ma ci sembra logico pensare ad una Luna Pastore e, vista la forma dell'ombra, a Prometeo od Epimeteo) che, con il suo passaggio davanti al Sole, sta creando e provocando una splendida eclissi su una modestissima porzione degli Anelli di Saturno.
Insomma: "la Natura al lavoro"!MareKromium
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The_Rings-Shadow-N00127581.jpgEclipsing the Rings (2)54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_Rings-Shadow-N00127582.jpgEclipsing the Rings (3)54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_Rings-Shadow-N00127583.jpgEclipsing the Rings (4)54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_Rings-Shadows-1.gifLooooong (!) Shadows on the Rings (GIF-Movie)72 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_Rings-Shadows-2.gifLooooong (!) Shadows on the Rings (GIF-Movie)57 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_Rings-Shadows_cassini_big.jpgA "Wall" on the Rings55 visiteCaption NASA:"What's causing unusual jagged shadows on Saturn's Rings? No one is yet sure. As Saturn nears Equinox, its Rings increasingly show only their thin edge to the Earth and Sun. As a result, Saturn's moons now commonly cast long shadows onto the Rings. An example of this is the elongated vertical shadow of Mimas seen on the above right.
The series of shorter, jagged shadows that run diagonally, however, are more unusual. Now Saturn's Rings have been known to be made of particles for hundreds of years, but these particles have so far escaped direct imaging.
It is therefore particularly exciting that a preliminary hypothesis holds that these jagged shadows are silhouettes of transient groups of ring particles temporarily held close by their own gravity. Future work will surely continue, as the robotic Cassini Spacecraft orbiting Saturn that took the above image will continue to photograph Saturn's magnificent Rings right through Saturn's equinox this August (2009)".MareKromium
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The_Rings-W00064239-40-EB-LXTT.gifThe Beautiful Rings of Saturn (a GIF-Movie by Elisabetta Bonora - Lunexit Team)111 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_Rings-W00064666-W00064680-GB-LXTT.gifClosing-up on the Rings (a GIF-Movie by Dr Gianluigi Barca - Lunexit Team)55 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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The_RingsPIA11142.jpgSaturn's Rings: the whole System (natural colors; credits: NASA)55 visiteCaption NASA:"Details of Saturn's icy Rings are visible in this sweeping view from Cassini of the Planet's glorious Ring System.
This natural color mosaic, taken from 10° below the illuminated side of the Rings, shows, from left to right, radially outward from Saturn, the C-Ring (with its Colombo and Maxwell Gaps); the B-Ring and the Cassini Division beyond, with the intervening Huygens Gap; the A-Ring (with its Encke and Keeler Gaps); and, on the far right, the narrow F-Ring. The total span covers approx. 65.700 Km (such as about 40.800 miles).
Although it is too faint to be seen here, the D-Ring is located just to the left of the C-Ring.
It is interesting to compare this view with PIA08389, which shows the unilluminated side of the Rings. The difference in brightness of the B-Ring relative to the other Rings is striking. When illuminated directly by the Sun, the B-Ring appears brighter than the adjacent A and C-Rings; however, when viewing the unlit side of the B-Ring, the A and C-Rings appear brighter.
This phenomenon occurs because the density of the B-Ring is greater than that of the A or C-Rings.
The mosaic was constructed from 45 narrow-angle-camera images — 15 separate sets of red, green and blue images — taken over the course of about four hours, as Cassini scanned across the Rings. The images in this view were obtained by NASA's Cassini Spacecraft on Nov. 26, 2008, at a distance of approx. 1,1 MKM (such as about 700.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Phase Angle of 28°.
Image scale in the radial (horizontal) direction is about 7 Km (4,3 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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The_Rings_and_Janus_Shadow-PIA11517.jpgJanus and its Shadow on the Rings56 visiteCaption NASA: (Main Frame) "The Cassini Spacecraft catches Janus joining other Saturnian moons in the Equinox "shadow-casting" party. As Saturn approaches its August 2009 Equinox, the Planet's moons cast shadows onto the Rings. Janus (about 179 Km, or approx. 111 miles across) is not visible in this image it has been added in the inset on upper right), but its shadow stretches across Saturn's A and F-Rings. Three background stars are visible in the image.
This view looks toward the sunlit side of the Rings from about 21° below the Ring-Plane. The image was taken in vVisible Light with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 10, 2009. The view was acquired at a distance of approx. 965.000 kM (such as about 600.000 miles) from Saturn and at a Phase Angle of 46°.
Image scale is roughly 5 Km (a little more than 3 miles) per pixel".
(Inset): "The small moon Janus is illuminated by light from both the Sun and Saturn. This view looks toward the South Pole of Janus which lies on the Terminator, just below the center of the image. Brightly lit terrain seen on the right is on the Leading Hemisphere of Janus. Light reflected off Saturn dimly lights the Saturn-facing side of Janus on the top left of the image.
The image was taken in Visible Light with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 9, 2009. The view was acquired at a distance of approx. 974.000 Km (such as approx. 605.000 miles) from Janus and at a Phase Angle of 99°.
Image scale is roughly 6 Km (a little less than 4 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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The_Sky_of_Saturn-4256690919_1c0b492298_o.gifIn the Sky of Saturn (GIF-Movie; credits: Dr M. Faccin)62 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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