Saturn at Equinox [Archive]

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Octane

20-10-2009, 02:40 PM

Excuse me if this is a repost.

The planets generally bore me to tears, but, seeing these rekindled the wonder once again.

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/saturn_at_equinox.html

Regards,
Humayun

dpastern

20-10-2009, 02:47 PM

WOW! I don't care if this was posted before, that was awesome! Thank you for sharing.

Dave

renormalised

20-10-2009, 02:50 PM

Excellent piccies:D:D

DavidU

20-10-2009, 03:07 PM

WOW:eyepop:

kustard

20-10-2009, 03:41 PM

Niiiiice :D

Craig.a.c

20-10-2009, 04:24 PM

Some stunning images in there.

Rick Petrie

20-10-2009, 05:25 PM

Thanks H.
The ring system and moons of Saturn are unique and the probe Cassini has bought all this to life. If only we could see this much detail through telescopes. Cheers:thumbsup:

Redshift

20-10-2009, 06:34 PM

I was delighted that I could just see the rings around Saturn through my 6" a few months ago, even though they only appeared as a fuzzy line. When will we get a chance to see the rings facing towards us? And those images are great!

dpastern

20-10-2009, 06:48 PM

I think it's a 26 year period for Saturn's rings (at least from my memory). So, the view will get better and better in the coming decade or 2.

Dave

PCH

20-10-2009, 07:18 PM

Those pics are terrific - thanks for posting. I love the animation of the moon capturing the sun's rays through the rings. :eyepop:

Can anyone explain why some moons (like ours) are pretty much perfectly spherical, whereas others (like some of Saturn's moons) are more like oddly shaped lumps of rock that have drifted into planetary orbit? They seem to have avoided the 'shaping' process somehow. Any thoughts anyone?

PS: If it's not ok to ask this question here, feel free to move it:thumbsup:

Cheers

Quark

20-10-2009, 07:48 PM

Come on H....... bored.
There is always stuff happening with the gas giants, just, it seems to take a lot to eek out the detail.

Regardless, thanks so much for finding and posting these gems of my favorite planet.

Cheers
Trevor

Quark

20-10-2009, 08:04 PM

Hi Paul,

Any object over about 1000 km dia in our Solar System is large enough for a process called differentiation to occur. The end result of this is that at that diameter, when they formed the pressure and heat generated within them is enough for them to collapse under there own gravity and become spherical.

Smaller objects just don't generate enough heat for differentiation to occur and can be odd shapes.

Regards
Trevor