APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04)

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APOD Robot
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APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04)

Post by APOD Robot » Sun Jan 04, 2015 5:05 am

Image Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn

Explanation: Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn. Looking nearly back toward the Sun, the robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn captured crescent phases of Saturn and its moon Rhea in color a few years ago. As striking as the above image is, it is but a single frame from a 60-frame silent movie where Rhea can be seen gliding in front of its parent world. Since Cassini was nearly in the plane of Saturn's rings, the normally impressive rings are visible here only as a thin line across the image center.

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by Nitpicker » Sun Jan 04, 2015 7:31 am

Magnificent. The "silent movie" is well worth a look too. Though I might have called it a transit rather than an occultation, at least from Cassini's vantage point.

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by Boomer12k » Sun Jan 04, 2015 10:32 am

You can see the division of the rings on Saturn...

Such a cool image.

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by JohnD » Sun Jan 04, 2015 12:07 pm

Each to their taste. but I prefer one of the first or last frames, when Rhea's globe is invisible and only its crescent shows, either against Space or Saturn's dark side.

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by Patrick60 » Sun Jan 04, 2015 4:09 pm

I thought there were other images in the film which better showed the "crescent" of Rhea. Still, the sequence is one I could have only dreamed of seeing the first time I saw Saturn as a young man.

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by LocalColor » Mon Jan 05, 2015 1:46 am

Lovely!

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by DavidLeodis » Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:43 pm

In the information brought up through the "above image" link the image is titled 'Rhea Transits Saturn' and it also states "Note: this release was formerly entitled "Rhea Occults Saturn." "

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Re: APOD: Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn (2015 Jan 04

Post by DavidLeodis » Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:59 pm

The "60-frame silent movie" is a link that brings up that movie in YouTube. For interest I have been trying to capture some frames from the movie and keeping a copy of them, but I have a problem. Quite soon in the movie an advert comes up. I can remove that by clicking on its 'x' but that then results in a small white arrow which I cannot remove and it then looks like an artefact on Saturn as the movie proceeds. I have an ad blocker but it clearly does not work well enough here so I wonder if anyone can inform me how (if it is readily possible) to remove the advert and also the white arrow? I am however surprised that JPL would allow the movie to be published with an advert. :o

PS. The Quick Time movie that can be brought up through the "above image" link does not have the advert but it does not have a time bar that I find useful.

Edit added a little while after posting. I don't know what I did but I can now see the movie without the advert! :saturn:

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