Cassini took this photo yesterday, May 9th, as 16-mile-wide shepherd moon Pan passed along its path through the Encke Gap. Its shadow falls upon the A ring, pointing toward Saturn. (I colored the image to approximate visible light coloration based on other true-color calibrations. The original raw image can be seen here.) Pan is…
Tag: moon
Shadow Facts
A moon’s shadow falls upon ring after ring in this image, taken on April 29 by Cassini. Varying brightnesses and compositions of ring segments scatter light differently, as shown above. With Saturn’s spring equinox (August 11) getting closer every day, the ringplane – and orbital plane of many of its moons – are approaching a perpendicular…
Streaming Along
Another animation, this time from April 24, 2009, made from 116 raw images from the Cassini spacecraft. The orbiting Cassini focused its camera on Prometheus as it dipped into the F ring and back out again, pulling the icy dust into wispy strands with its passing. Prometheus’ oblong shape can be seen clearly here…it…
An Occult Event
This past Thursday, April 23, skywatchers were treated to a special event: the moon occulting (hiding) Venus. During the early morning hours (exact time depending on location) the crescent moon passed across Venus, obscuring it from Earth’s view. This image was taken by David Cortner, a photographer in North Carolina. It shows a large-scale…
To The Moon
This HD video is a wonderful overview of JAXA’s Kaguya SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) mission, currently in orbit around the moon. After an amazing launch on September 14, 2007, shown here in stunning high definition, the probe entered orbit around the moon and deployed two remote satellites which communicate with the main probe. This mission…
The Dark Half
The 914-mile-wide Iapetus turns its darker side towards Cassini’s cameras in this photo, taken on March 3, 2009, while a hint of its brighter face shows along its northern edge. This moon of Saturn has the distinction of being coated in dark material on one side, and bright white material on the other. Theories…
Executive Parking
One of the perks of working on the Moon is always being able to find a good parking spot. This image shows Apollo 17 astronaut and geologist Harrison “Jack” Schmitt standing below a boulder called “Tracy’s Rock”, with the lunar rover parked in the background. Schmitt is carrying a gnomon, a marked rod on…
Lights on the Dark Side
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency has released the videos taken by the high-definition camera aboard its Kaguya lunar orbiter. This one is a flyover of a region called Mare Ingenii, or “Sea of Cleverness”, a rare lava flow area on the moon’s far side. The far side permanently faces away from the Earth and so…
Hazed and Diffused
Cassini captured this intriguing glimpse into Titan’s thick haze during its latest flyby. Made up of complex hydrocarbons, formed from the breakdown of methane by solar radiation, this pale blue shroud extends hundreds of miles above the moon’s surface…ten times thicker, in fact, than our own atmosphere. This is a raw image from the…
Clementine: Lost and Gone Forever, But Never Forgotten!
One of my all-time favorite space images is this little gem from the Clementine mission to the Moon, launched in January of 1994. It features a view from beyond the far side of the Moon, illuminated by reflected light off the Earth off frame to the left, blocking the disc of the Sun with the solar corona…
Birthing the Moon
Where did the moon come from? It seems silly to ask, given that it has shone down upon us, brightening our nights with its cool white light since humans – since life itself – ever existed. But it’s an anomaly. Venus has no moon. Neither does Mercury. Mars has two tiny chunks of rock…
Ice Volcanoes on Titan?
This infrared image, taken by Cassini during a March 27, 2009 flyby of Titan, shows a bright area of topography called “Hotei Arcus” that is believed to be active with volcanoes that ooze slushy ice rather than molten rock. Over the past four years, this area has undergone variations in brightness that indicate resurfacing activity of…
Lights in the Dark 