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Planet Saturn
(Reuters)
Updated: 2004-07-06 08:35
An image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on
July 3, 2004 and received on Earth on the same day shows the planet Saturn
casting a shadow over its rings. The camera was pointing toward Saturn at
approximately 1,513,849 kms away, and the image was taken using the CL1
and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Cassini,
launched nearly seven years ago by an international team of scientists,
became the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn and its rings and moons during
an "orbit insertion" maneuver last Wednesday. The $3 billion Cassini
mission, a joint project of NASA, and the European and Italian space
agencies, is hailed as a model of international cooperation, with
scientists from 17 countries participating. [Reuters]
An image taken by the Cassini spacecraft on
July 3, 2004 and received on Earth on the same day shows the planet Saturn
casting a shadow over its rings.
A July 2, 2004 mosaic image shows Titan's
south polar region, acquired as Cassini passed by at a range of 339,000
kilometers (210,600 miles). These images were acquired through special
filters designed to see through the thick haze and atmosphere. The surface
features become more blurry toward the limb, where the light reflected off
the surface must pass through more atmosphere before reaching the camera.
The bright spots near the bottom represent a field of clouds near the
south pole. There are many strange dark and bright patterns on Titan's
surface -- linear, sinuous and circular -- whose origins are not yet
understood. The smallest features detected on the surface are about 10
kilometers (6 miles) wide.[Reuters] |
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