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olePigeon · May 3, 2006, 08:12 PM

Yes, the top half of Saturn is blue. It's blue for the same reason that our sky is blue. The little dot just above the rings is Enceladus; as I mentioned in an earlier post, has liquid water only 30 meters below the surface with geysers erupting!

It's currently a mystery as to why the southern part of Saturn isn't blue, as well as why it's gold overall. Another awesome picture from Cassini!

blackbird_1.0 · May 3, 2006, 08:19 PM

Wow.

Albert Pujols · May 3, 2006, 08:56 PM

that's just so awesome.

LegendaryPinkOx · May 3, 2006, 08:58 PM

makes you feel..... very small

blackbird_1.0 · May 3, 2006, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by LegendaryPinkOx

makes you feel..... very small

I agree.

euphras · May 4, 2006, 04:35 AM

I think it looks way too artificial, the ring is so flat and even. It looks like a computer graphic to me

hookem2oo7 · May 4, 2006, 08:02 AM

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/index.cfm

sek929 · May 4, 2006, 10:50 AM

Cassini rocks

I recently saw the special on GBH about Cassini, excellent show (and awesome mission)

olePigeon · May 4, 2006, 11:00 AM

Originally Posted by euphras

I think it looks way too artificial, the ring is so flat and even. It looks like a computer graphic to me

Please tell me you're not one of those super-Christians who think we've never left this planet (not even satellites), and that dinosaurs were made up.

residentEvil · May 4, 2006, 11:04 AM

so flat?

from that image, those rings are still probably thousands of miles thick

sek929 · May 4, 2006, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Please tell me you're not one of those super-Christians who think we've never left this planet (not even satellites), and that dinosaurs were made up.

From a recent Sopranos (where the ultra-christians visit Tony in the hospital)

The father explains how man AND dinosaurs lived together to which Christopher replies...

"Dinosaurs and man at the same time, get the f**k outta hea, Eden was supposed to be paradise, Adam and Eve woulda been scared sh*tless."

euphras · May 4, 2006, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Please tell me you're not one of those super-Christians who think we've never left this planet (not even satellites), and that dinosaurs were made up.

I´m a scientist (biology). I never intended to doubt the source of the pics. And i really thought that the structure of the ring would be more disperse (like a Gaussian distribution curve along the axis of rotation). Hmm...obviously a very sharp one.

funkboy · May 4, 2006, 04:01 PM

That does seem incredibly even in some ways - I'm not questioning the validity of the photo, but it seems like it may have been cleaned up a little. Surely it was rotated some from its original orientation.

And the color thing... that is spooky. Have we always known the top was blue? Very humbling picture.

And is Dave getting near this place yet?

aristotles · May 4, 2006, 04:08 PM

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Please tell me you're not one of those super-Christians who think we've never left this planet (not even satellites), and that dinosaurs were made up.

Wow. Did Mr. Trolly troll get out of bed? I don't know how to respond to such hyperbole. Maybe you should have thrown in Elvis and the aliens and something about pyramids and flat earthers just for good measure?

olePigeon · 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by residentEvil

so flat?

from that image, those rings are still probably thousands of miles thick

Probably close to 100 miles, judging from the picture. Enceladus is about 500 kilometers in diamater. I can imagine a little more than 3 of those rings fitting in there.

black bear theory · 05:26 PM

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

the smaller moon, epimetheus is in the foreground (closer than the rings). pretty amazing perspective.

Originally Posted by olePigeon

Probably close to 1000 miles, judging from the picture. Enceladus is about 500 kilometers in diamater. I can imagine a little more than 3 of those rings fitting in there.

wouldn't it be closer to 100 miles? did you inadvertently add another zero?

olePigeon · May 4, 2006, 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by black bear theory

wouldn't it be closer to 100 miles? did you inadvertently add another zero?

Err, yeah.

JoshuaZ · May 6, 2006, 10:23 AM

Josh to NASA: I love you. Did you get those flowers I sent? You never return my voice mails....

jamil5454 · May 6, 2006, 11:47 AM

The reason the picture looks so sharp and clean is because that's how objects in space are. Generally, Nature is pretty well-balanced and organized

TailsToo · May 6, 2006, 10:46 PM

Or they were taken at the same place the Apollo Moon Landings were faked.

wataru · May 7, 2006, 12:10 AM

Originally Posted by jamil5454

The reason the picture looks so sharp and clean is because that's how objects in space are. Generally, Nature is pretty well-balanced and organized

Statistical mechanics would disagree with you.

On certain scales, sure, things look organized. But if you look close enough, it's all very messy.

olePigeon · May 8, 2006, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by wataru

Statistical mechanics would disagree with you.

On certain scales, sure, things look organized. But if you look close enough, it's all very messy.

Einstein really hated Electrons.

wataru · May 8, 2006, 10:48 PM

Einstein didn't like a lot of the implications of quantum mechanics. Too bad he was so stubborn; he might have been able to contribute even more in his later years.

Not to belittle the contributions he did make.