Cassini - 13 1/2 Years Old and Counting

[PPI Brian]

The Cassini probe launched October 15, 1997 and it continues to amaze us with magnificent images like this.

Dwarfed by Gas
June 6, 2011  Full-Res: PIA12769  

Two moons, Rhea and Dione, join the planet and its rings in this view from the Cassini spacecraft. Rhea and Dione are respectively the second and third largest moons of Saturn, but they are tiny compared to the planet.
Dione (1,123 kilometers, or 698 miles across) is near the center of the image. Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is on the right. The shadow cast by a third moon, Tethys, is also visible near the bottom of the image, south of the shadows cast by the planet's rings and near the terminator between light and dark. Tethys is not shown here. Part of the large storm that has been churning through the northern atmosphere for months can be seen in the top left of the image.

This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 11, 2011 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 94 degrees. Image scale is 172 kilometers (107 miles) per pixel on Saturn.


Looking forward to the launch of Juno this August.  

[PPI Debra]

Brian
Thanks for posting this.
This photo is almost eerie...maybe because it's so still.

I am continuously sad about the space program.

[PPI Brian]

Brian
Thanks for posting this.
This photo is almost eerie...maybe because it's so still.

I am continuously sad about the space program.

It's amazing, isn't it? We never see the outer planets exhibit phases from earth, so it's really something to see the giant gas planets as crescents.

I'm also sad about the space program. At least they haven't cancelled our robotic missions. 

[PPI Karl]

What an extraordinary photo.  I'm a sucker for these planetary images.  Beautiful!

It's a damned shame that the U.S. will probably lose its edge in space exploration in the coming decades.  I can't understand why the tantalizing discoveries we're making so far aren't enough to propel us forward exponentially our plans for more exploration.  You'd think that what Kepler has sussed out in just four months of data would be enough to move forward now and keep pushing the boundaries.  Are people really that limited in their vision?  Do they feel empowered by holding back discovery and progress?  Do they really think that the world's problems should be solved before the quest for discovery, not because of it?  These are our limited choices?  End hunger OR look for life on Europa?  I'm so tired of these simplistic false dilemmas!  Sometimes I imagine what Carl Sagan would be saying if he were alive today.

[PPI Brian]

I absolutely agree. I think the determining factor was articulated most succintly by Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. She was standing in front of the Hoover Dam and asking if America is really a country that can think this big anymore. Sadly, at this time, I have to say "no, we are not". The conservative ideology that caused the economic problems in our country are holding us back. I have hope that the American people will take action to change this before it's too late.