| Ultimi arrivi - Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons |
Enceladus-PIA06579.jpgCrescent Enceladus, the brightest gem of Saturn's System58 visiteCaption NASA originale:"In the dim light of the outer Solar System, Cassini gazed back at Saturn's brightest gem: the moon Enceladus. The icy little world presents only a slim crescent in this natural color view. Cassini has now matched the best spatial resolution on Enceladus achieved by NASA's Voyager spacecraft, and will soon have excellent coverage of the moon (at more than 10 times the resolution in this image), following a flyby planned for February 17.
When seen from its day side, Enceladus (499 Km across) has one of the brightest and whitest surfaces in the Solar System. Since it reflects most of the sunlight that strikes it, the temperature there remains at a chilly -200°C (-330° Fahrenheit).
In this view, Cassini was pointed at the leading hemisphere of Enceladus, which was in darkness at the time. The image has been rotated so that north on Enceladus is up".Feb 08, 2005
|
|
Saturn-PIA07008.jpgSaturn's temperature emissions (upper troposphere)59 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This is the sharpest image of Saturn's temperature emissions taken from the ground; it is a mosaic of 35 individual exposures made at the W.M. Keck I Observatory, Mauna Kea, Hawaii on Feb. 4, 2004.
The images to create this mosaic were taken with infrared radiation. The mosaic was taken at a wavelength near 17,65 microns and is sensitive to temperatures in Saturn's upper troposphere. The prominent hot spot at the bottom of the image is right at Saturn's South Pole. The warming of the Southern Hemisphere was expected, as Saturn was just past Southern Summer Solstice, but the abrupt changes in temperature with latitude were NOT expected. The tropospheric temperature increases toward the pole abruptly near 70° latitude from 88° to 89° Kelvin (-301° to -299° Fahrenheit) and then to 91° Kelvin (-296° degrees Fahrenheit) right at the Pole. Ring particles are not at a uniform temperature: they are obviously coldest just after having cooled down in Saturn's shadow (lower left)". Feb 04, 2005
|
|
Unexplainable-N00027253.jpgSomething's moving in the Space of Saturn59 visiteImmagine ripresa dalla Sonda Cassini il 31 Gennaio 2005 e ricevuta a Terra il 1mo Febbraio.
Che cosa mostra? Si tratta, evidentemente, di un fenomeno - per noi - "unexplainable", come molti altri.
Le ipotesi sono le solite: 1) immagine "mossa" di una stella o di un piccolo satellite di Saturno (ipotesi più probabile); 2) oggetto in movimento "di passaggio" accanto alla Sonda - un UFO? - (ipotesi leggermente meno probabile); 3) artefatto fotografico (ipotesi decisamente improbabile). Noi saremmo propensi, per una molteplicità di fattori, a considerare l'ipotesi 1) come la più probabile (almeno in questo frangente).Feb 02, 2005
|
|
Dione-N00027217.jpgSinking in the Rings...60 visiteScusateci il "calambour", ma nessuna espressione ci è sembrata più azzeccata di questo "Sinking in the Rings" (che tanto ci ricorda la famosissima "Singing in the Rain"...) per commentare un'immagine simile e di enorme, intrinseca ed unica bellezza.Feb 01, 2005
|
|
Rhea and Titan-N00027209.jpgRhea (or Tethys?) and Titan: getting closer...74 visitenessun commentoFeb 01, 2005
|
|
Japetus-cassini-big.jpgJapetus: the most misterious Saturnian moon57 visiteCaption NASA originale:"What has happened to Saturn's moon Japetus? A strange ridge crosses the moon near the equator, visible near the bottom of the above image, making Japetus appear similar to the pit of a peach. Half of Japetus is so dark that it can nearly disappear when viewed from Earth. Recent observations show that the degree of darkness of the terrain is strangely uniform, like a dark coating was somehow recently applied to an ancient and highly cratered surface. The other half of Japetus is relatively bright but oddly covered with long and thin streaks of dark. A 400-Km wide impact basin is visible near the image center, delineated by deep scarps that drop sharply to the crater floor. The above image was taken by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft during a flyby of Japetus at the end of last year".Feb 01, 2005
|
|
Mimas and Saturn-PIA06574.jpgMimas and Saturn59 visiteCaption NASA originale:"In a dazzling and dramatic portrait painted by the Sun, the long thin shadows of Saturn's rings sweep across the planet's northern latitudes. Within the shadows, bright bands represent areas where the ring material is less dense, while dark strips and wave patterns reveal areas of denser material. The shadow darkens sharply near upper right, corresponding to the boundary of the thin C-Ring with the denser B-Ring. A wide-field, natural color view of these shadows can be seen in PIA06164.
The globe of Saturn's moon Mimas (398 Km or 247 miles across) has wandered into view near the bottom of the frame. A few of the large craters on this small moon are visible. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 18, 2005, at a distance of 1,4 MKM (889.000 miles) from Saturn using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The image scale is 9 Km (approx 5,5 miles) per pixel".
Gen 31, 2005
|
|
Rhea and Titan-N00027159.jpgRhea (or Tethys?) and Titan69 visiteUna ripresa davvero suggestiva e bellissima della "rocciosa" Rhea (o forse Tethys? Purtroppo il frame NASA è abbastanza ambiguo)e del "nebbioso" Titano, provvisoriamente "vicini" - si fa solo per dire, come ovvio... - e pertanto inquadrati nello stesso frame.
Come avevamo già detto in passato, le fotografie NASA non sono scattate - a quanto ne sappiamo - usando uno "spirito artistico" ma, alle volte, anche delle semplici coincidenze (come, in questo caso, i momenti orbitali di Rhea e Titano) riescono a trasformare un frame altrimenti "anonimo" in una "Finestra sull'Universo" e, dunque, in un'opera d'arte.
Secondo noi, ovviamente...Gen 28, 2005
|
|
Epimetheus-N00027140.jpgEpimetheus and the "F-Ring" of Saturn57 visiteUn'immagine della "roccia vagante" chiamata Epimetheus - che è comunque uno dei "Ring-Masters" - e le "imperfezioni" dell'"F-Ring" di Saturno, molto ben visibili in questo frame leggermente sovraesposto.Gen 27, 2005
|
|
Saturn-N00027083.jpgHiding behind the Rings!59 visiteRhea - o almeno così ci sembra, ma potremmo anche sbagliare - "gioca" a nascondersi dietro gli Anelli di Saturno.
Un'immagine incredibile che fissa il momento in cui questa luna si accinge a scomparire dalla visuale della Sonda Cassini, attratta e quindi "assorbita" - si fa per dire... dai maestosi Anelli del Gigante.Gen 24, 2005
|
|
Saturn-W00004112.jpgSaturn and the "RingMasters"61 visitenessun commentoGen 23, 2005
|
|
Saturn-W00004086.jpgA look at the Saturn's System59 visiteSaturno in compagnia di 4 Lune Maggiori (siamo abbastanza certi che 3 delle 4 lune visibili siano Rhea, Mimas e Dione) ed almeno altre 5 o 6 Lune Minori (non crediamo che i piccoli punti luminosi che circondano gli Anelli di Saturno in questo frame siano degli artefatti fotografici).
Un'immagine sovraesposta ma splendida: da collezione!Gen 22, 2005
|
|
| 2245 immagini su 188 pagina(e) |
 |
|
|
|
|
162 | |
|
|
|
|
