Saturn's Rings from the other side

Ernie · Post by **Ernie** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:45 am

The June 22 APOD photo of "Saturn's rings from the other side" is a beautiful picture and very interesting, but it would help to understand what this means geometrically. In future could a simple diagram be inserted in the low resolution picture to help clarify the relation between important off-picture objects (in this case the sun), the camera and the object itself?

Also I appreciate the size and distance information that is now added to many APOD descriptions. This really helps place many phenomena in perspective by telling us "how big it is." Even angular extent is useful if distance in unavailable.

Best Regards,

Ernie

RJN · Post by **RJN** » Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:13 pm

Hi Ernie,

Here is a diagram on what is going on:

Case 1:

Sun

Observer

***********************B-ring plane***********

_____________________________________________________

Case 2:

Sun

**********************B-ring plane************

Observer

_____________________________________________________

Case 1 is the "usual case" geometry as imaged from Earth. Case 2 is the case just imaged by Cassini. I hope this is a help!

- RJN

Ernie · Post by **Ernie** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:21 am

RJN,

Thanks.

Ernie