Astronomy
The Cassini spacecraft captures three magnificent sights at once: Saturn's north polar vortex and hexagon along with its expansive rings.
The hexagon, which is wider than two Earths, owes its appearance to the jet stream that forms its perimeter. The jet stream forms a six-lobed, stationary wave which wraps around the north polar regions at a latitude of roughly 77 degrees North.
This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 37 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on April 2, 2014 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 43 degrees. Image scale is 81 miles (131 kilometers) per pixel.
article reference:- nasa.gov
- Equinox On Saturn
About every 15 Earth years, Saturn?s experiences an equinox, much like Earth?s equinox. On Earth it occurs twice in Earth?s orbit?two times every Earth year?when the Sun lies in the Earth?s equatorial plane. As a result, the duration of day and night...
- Tracing Saturn
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Looking at this picture just blew me away. It is so simple, yet is able to reveal Saturn's unique shape immediately. The picture was taken by the Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, on February 13,...
- "mission Accomplished, But New Questions Await!"
That's what NASA is announcing about their Cassini mission. Today, on June 30, Cassini is ending its primary mission, lasting for four years. But Cassini is not done with Saturn and its moons. There is still much too left to learn about Saturn, and...
- Triple Crescent Moons Of Saturn.
A single crescent moon is a familiar sight in Earth's sky, but with Saturn's many moons, we can see three or even more. The three moons shown here, Titan [5,150 kilometers across], Mimas [396 kilometers across] and Rhea [1,527 kilometers across]...
- Saturn In A Moment Of Solar Eclipse.
This image taken by the Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn at the majestic moment of solar eclipse. The night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own ring system. The rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against...
Astronomy
Saturn's Vortex and Rings.
The hexagon, which is wider than two Earths, owes its appearance to the jet stream that forms its perimeter. The jet stream forms a six-lobed, stationary wave which wraps around the north polar regions at a latitude of roughly 77 degrees North.
This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 37 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on April 2, 2014 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 43 degrees. Image scale is 81 miles (131 kilometers) per pixel.
article reference:- nasa.gov
- Equinox On Saturn
About every 15 Earth years, Saturn?s experiences an equinox, much like Earth?s equinox. On Earth it occurs twice in Earth?s orbit?two times every Earth year?when the Sun lies in the Earth?s equatorial plane. As a result, the duration of day and night...
- Tracing Saturn
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Looking at this picture just blew me away. It is so simple, yet is able to reveal Saturn's unique shape immediately. The picture was taken by the Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, on February 13,...
- "mission Accomplished, But New Questions Await!"
That's what NASA is announcing about their Cassini mission. Today, on June 30, Cassini is ending its primary mission, lasting for four years. But Cassini is not done with Saturn and its moons. There is still much too left to learn about Saturn, and...
- Triple Crescent Moons Of Saturn.
A single crescent moon is a familiar sight in Earth's sky, but with Saturn's many moons, we can see three or even more. The three moons shown here, Titan [5,150 kilometers across], Mimas [396 kilometers across] and Rhea [1,527 kilometers across]...
- Saturn In A Moment Of Solar Eclipse.
This image taken by the Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn at the majestic moment of solar eclipse. The night side of Saturn is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own ring system. The rings themselves appear dark when silhouetted against...