APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

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APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by APOD Robot » Sun Apr 19, 2020 4:05 am

Image Cassini Approaches Saturn

Explanation: What would it look like to approach Saturn in a spaceship? One doesn't have to just imagine -- the Cassini spacecraft did just this in 2004, recording thousands of images along the way, and hundreds of thousands more since entering orbit. Some of Cassini's early images have been digitally tweaked, cropped, and compiled into the featured inspiring video which is part of a larger developing IMAX movie project named In Saturn's Rings. In the concluding sequence, Saturn looms increasingly large on approach as cloudy Titan swoops below. With Saturn whirling around in the background, Cassini is next depicted flying over Mimas, with large Herschel Crater clearly visible. Saturn's majestic rings then take over the show as Cassini crosses Saturn's thin ring plane. Dark shadows of the ring appear on Saturn itself. Finally, the enigmatic ice-geyser moon Enceladus appears in the distance and then is approached just as the video clip ends. After more than a decade of exploration and discovery, the Cassini spacecraft ran low on fuel in 2017 was directed to enter Saturn's atmosphere, where it surely melted.

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Guest » Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:10 am

I hate when people add music to videos like this.

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by orin stepanek » Sun Apr 19, 2020 12:53 pm

Cassini must have been rotating at approach and passing at the time! 8-)
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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Tszabeau » Sun Apr 19, 2020 1:07 pm

WOW! That was worth the wait!

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by starsurfer » Sun Apr 19, 2020 1:50 pm

Guest wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:10 am I hate when people add music to videos like this.
Just mute the sound. :D

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by dianaeforrest@talktalk.net » Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:04 pm

How come you can see the stars through the dark part of Saturn's rings? Diana

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:13 pm

dianaeforrest@talktalk.net wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:04 pm How come you can see the stars through the dark part of Saturn's rings? Diana
The dark parts are where the particle density is lowest.

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Chris Peterson » Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:19 pm

Cousin Ricky wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:13 pm
dianaeforrest@talktalk.net wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:04 pm How come you can see the stars through the dark part of Saturn's rings? Diana
The dark parts are where the particle density is lowest.
That's true for the rings that are illuminated by the Sun. The other dark parts are the places in shadow. Even the densest ring segments are translucent, though. The only reason that stars aren't apparent through the sunlit regions is because they're too bright to notice them.
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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Sun Apr 19, 2020 2:20 pm

Rossini’s Barber of Seville : “Rabbit of Seville,” as
Rossini’s William Tell overture, 3rd movement, “Ranz des Vaches” : Warner Brothers cartoons, as
Rossini’s William Tell overture, 4th movement, “March of the Swiss Soldiers” : The Lone Ranger, as
Barber’s Adagio for Strings, opus 11 : Platoon.

I don’t know if I can get Saturn to replace Platoon in my head. Maybe if I run this video in a loop for 2 hours...

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Cousin Ricky » Sun Apr 19, 2020 3:17 pm

Guest wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:10 am I hate when people add music to videos like this.
If this were an on-the-ground star party without social distancing, I would agree, and say “Get some earbuds!” But you can mute a video, especially Vimeo, which doesn’t autoplay.

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Astronymus » Sun Apr 19, 2020 5:08 pm

I have my speakers turned off in general and only turn them on when I need them. Just saying.
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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by starsurfer » Sun Apr 19, 2020 9:07 pm

@ 1:30, That's a moon!

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Boomer12k » Mon Apr 20, 2020 3:01 am

Amazing that Saturn looks so smooth and undisturbed, yet Jupiter is a swirl of storms and activity... maybe Jupiter should have bigger rings???
Well, they seem calming...

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Forrest White » Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:50 am

By September, the Cassini's fuel supply should come to an end and the probe's mission will be completed. The spacecraft was first launched on September 15, 1997. Thanks to Cassini we found out that the Titan moves away from Saturn which means that Titan can swallow the Earth in the Future.

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Ann » Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:36 pm

Forrest White wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:50 am By September, the Cassini's fuel supply should come to an end and the probe's mission will be completed. The spacecraft was first launched on September 15, 1997. Thanks to Cassini we found out that the Titan moves away from Saturn which means that Titan can swallow the Earth in the Future.
Titan can swallow the Earth?

That would certainly be a mouthful for Titan, don't you think?

Anyway, how could Titan be ejected from its orbit around Saturn? And if it was to be ejected after all, improbable as that would be, why would Titan collide with the Earth? The sheer size of the volume of space between Saturn and the Earth boggles the mind.

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Re: APOD: Cassini Approaches Saturn (2020 Apr 19)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:24 pm

Forrest White wrote: Mon Nov 30, 2020 10:50 am By September, the Cassini's fuel supply should come to an end and the probe's mission will be completed. The spacecraft was first launched on September 15, 1997. Thanks to Cassini we found out that the Titan moves away from Saturn which means that Titan can swallow the Earth in the Future.
???

The Cassini mission ended in 2017 when it was de-orbited into Saturn.

Titan is gravitationally bound to Saturn. The sort of multiple body interaction that would be required to eject it from that system is exceedingly unlikely to occur over the lifetime of our Sun. And if it did, the likelihood of it ending up on an orbit intersecting the Earth is equally tiny.
Chris

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