Thursday, July 16, 2015

The best images from Cassini for 2015

With all the attention to New Horizons and Pluto lets not forget the veteran spaceship Cassini which makes wonders around Saturn and sometimes it seems as there is an artist photographer sitting there to get these great compositions.
Cassini is now on its 219's Rev around Saturn. The orbit is very elliptical and spans from about 200,000km to over 2,000,000km. Such an orbit is required to measure Saturn's gravitational field and also give chance to flybys around the moons. Each Rev is well planned in advance and is fully using the time to observe Saturn and the moons.
Here are some of the best photos of 2015
You can see many more at Cassini's website and I've added a link for each photo for more explanations and details in that website.
All photos are courtesy of NASA 

Lets start with an old photo which is not very familiar. This is a very known object from a completly different angel.

Southern pole of Jupiter:
Southern pole of Jupiter: Cassini. NASA
This is an old photo of Jupiter when Cassini passed near him in the previous decade. The angle is unique. Never before we saw Jupiter from down under! The great red spot and the entire clouds' bands are visible in this magnificent image.


What do you see in the following unreal picture? Obviously you see the ring but what is behind the ring? It is the ring shadow in Saturn surface! Cubist art in its best.
Modern art in Saturn's rings
Modern art in Saturn's rings
 This is moon Rhea. do I see that it also has a heart shape on it or is is my imagination?
Rhea
Rhea
 A flying sponge? That's what most people think of Hyperion
Hyperion
Hyperion
And Tethys looks just like the death star from star-wars (Me and the children are eagerly waiting for episode VII!)
Tethys
Tethys
Dione is beautifully aligned on Saturn ring which is extremely narrow in this photo. The dark silhouette of Saturn is a great background.
Dione
Dione
 Three moons in one shot and all of them thin crescent. hoe can that happen?
Titan Mimas and Rhea
Titan Mimas and Rhea
Who's who? The large object is Saturn! look carefully for the thin ring in the right middle. The small object is Titan which is a very large moon but small in front of giant Saturn.
Saturn and Titan
Saturn and Titan
 Janus and a tiny fraction of the rings below
Janus
Janus

Previous articles about Cassini and Saturn: