Author Topic: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.  (Read 4793 times)

Offline DSJ™

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Offline Rob

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #1 on: July 1, 2004, 02:13 AM »
Very cool.  Can't wait for the pictures to start coming in.

One question - and the answer might be in those articles, but since I don't have time to read them all tonight I'll ask anyway.

Why does it have to thread a gap in the rings to settle into orbit?  Seems there's a whole lot of Saturn that doesn't have rings around it that they could approach from.

Or does it have something to do with gravity?  Or, did they just want to take pictures from close to the rings?

Offline DSJ™

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #2 on: July 1, 2004, 03:27 AM »
You sir have answered your own questions.  ;)

This will be the only chance they have to get pictures & data that close to the rings plus arcing through that gap provides the proper angle to achieve the orbit. There will be more data on the rings in it's 4 yr, mission but that flyby is the closest.

The next big event:

Dec. 25, 2004: 02:00 UTC Huygens probe separates from the Cassini orbiter and begins its 21 day journey to Titan. Dec. 25 counts as day one and Jan. 14 is day 21.

Jan. 14, 2005: Huygens begins its descent through Titan's cloudy atmosphere, where it lands on the surface about two and half hours later. The probe is scheduled to encounter the upper fringes of Titan's atmosphere at 09:00 UTC.

Other highlights of the Saturn Tour include close encounters with Saturn's moons Enceladus, Titan, Hyperion, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus.

Awesome success that has been made with the The Little Rover's that could on Mars (Spirit & Opportunity) that still provide excellent data & pictures on there extended mission & now Cassini, that will open new doors on the mysteries of Saturn, it's Rings & her Moons.

Not to mention that the door has also been opened by Burt Rutan/Paul Allen with SpaceShipOne, the first private manned mission to space piloted by Mike Melvill, the first civilian to receive astronaut wings!  8)

Offline BigDumbWookiee

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #3 on: July 1, 2004, 08:39 AM »
Its a good time to be a geek ;)
"Of all the things to worry about, the wookiee has no pants..."

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #4 on: July 1, 2004, 08:41 AM »
Geekiness is a state of mind man...  

err, yeah.

Anyway, I'm really resisting all urges to make "Klingons on Uranus" jokes...  Anything that ever happens in our own solar system just brings that out in me for some reason.
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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #5 on: July 1, 2004, 09:12 AM »
Very cool - my teacher has me doing a set of illustrations for a fictional magazine article titled 'Space.... Where No Man Has Gone Before,' so lately I've been browsing alot of space stuff - specifically satellite/deep space related.

Which one of the moons of Saturn is possibly habitable?

Offline Scott

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #6 on: July 1, 2004, 09:28 AM »
None of them...Titan does have an atmosphere though which is mostly Nitrogen (like ours is)

Maybe a few hundred years from now after ruining Mars humans might be able to try terraforming Titan by initiating reactions to make Oxygen

I would guess both places would be cold, Canadians wouldn't mind living there I would guess

Can't wait to see more pics either.  Me and my best buddy in 4th grade did a project on a Spaceship that took us to Titan.  We set up a base there and battled aliens from outside the galaxy.

Offline Rob

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #7 on: July 1, 2004, 09:35 AM »
None of them...Titan does have an atmosphere though which is mostly Nitrogen (like ours is)

Maybe a few hundred years from now after ruining Mars humans might be able to try terraforming Titan by initiating reactions to make Oxygen

Kinda like Total Recall????

I can see it now, Arnold Schwartzeneggar saying:  "Getcha ass to Titan."

Offline Scott

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #8 on: July 1, 2004, 09:38 AM »
Yeah exactly like Total Recall.  The basic idea is you start plant life growing which makes oxygen from the CO2 present.  And as long as you keep watering it could happen.

I'm almost done with Dune right now and they are experimenting with the same idea on their desert planet

Offline Scott

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #9 on: July 1, 2004, 11:40 AM »


My Precious

Offline Bob Crane

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #10 on: July 1, 2004, 01:58 PM »
Meh... I expected Farrah Fawcett and Kirk Douglas.
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Offline Darby

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #11 on: July 1, 2004, 03:32 PM »
One of the NASA guys called Saturn the 'lord of the rings.'  Little corny, but how apt.  This is great, and I can't wait for all the amazing pictures.

Offline DSJ™

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #12 on: July 1, 2004, 03:49 PM »
The pics are getting clearer. MULTIMEDIA - Images - Raw Images - Results



Wonder if they will find one of these floating around Saturn!  :P



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Offline Ben

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #13 on: July 1, 2004, 04:13 PM »
Awesome images.

Can't wait for better ones. ;D
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Saturn Has A New Moon, Cassini.
« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2004, 11:32 AM »
Some new images of various moons of Saturn are now up...

Cassini-Huygens Home Page



Wow.

Jeff

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