In Saturn's Shadow
October 16, 2006 6:45 AM Subscribe
In Saturn's Shadow. Pictures of Saturn like none you've seen before, taken by Cassini while the planet was in between the probe and the sun. You can just make out Earth in the photos. Previously.
So when can we all get to be space tourists and go see this for ourselves? Screw suborbital flights, I wanna see Saturn!
posted by zsazsa at 6:55 AM on October 16, 2006
posted by zsazsa at 6:55 AM on October 16, 2006
Saturn's got a lot of junk in the trunk.
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:07 AM on October 16, 2006
posted by CynicalKnight at 7:07 AM on October 16, 2006
Those pics sent chills down my spine. The universe is truly a beautiful thing.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:22 AM on October 16, 2006
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 7:22 AM on October 16, 2006
I predict Pink Floyd will make amends and squeeze out another album simply to have this on the cover.
posted by hal9k at 8:12 AM on October 16, 2006
posted by hal9k at 8:12 AM on October 16, 2006
Regarding this, Bruce Sterling said, "If that image doesn't inspire you with awe, you're uninspirable."
posted by cgc373 at 8:28 AM on October 16, 2006
posted by cgc373 at 8:28 AM on October 16, 2006
Beautiful.
It's been an exciting month for space pr0n.
posted by aliasless at 9:31 AM on October 16, 2006
It's been an exciting month for space pr0n.
posted by aliasless at 9:31 AM on October 16, 2006
Wow indeed. Thanks for this.
posted by languagehat at 9:45 AM on October 16, 2006
posted by languagehat at 9:45 AM on October 16, 2006
I've mentioned before how, as a sprat, I would frequently escape the real world into a fantastical place where each of the planets in our solar system had a people that lived on them, and each of those people had something about them that made them fascinating to me.
Pluto had the toy soldiers, driving their slaves to row around and around the planet without end. On Venus, the only way two parents could have a child was for one of them to die and give their soul away to the newcomer - birth was both a joy and a tragedy, and each newborn was ushered into the world with a baptism of tears at the one who had passed away moments before.
But Saturn was by far my favorite. Those people could fly; yet they had been forced to live underground by the damage done to the surface of their planet by their formerly warlike ways. And so they spent their lives far beneath the sky, in dark tunnels that were kept alight by tired old machines that were forever chugging and sputtering so that they could see, and so that they could breathe. Yet being able to see was not the gift it might seem; because it reminded them of their place, and that they would never get a chance to unfold their wings and would never know what it must have been like to soar past the clouds with absolute freedom.
Saturn, then, to me is a symbol of possibility unrealized, potential that has been wasted, and the regret one feels when they find out that they will forever be paying for a mistake made long ago. These pictures struck a very deep chord with me.
posted by kfx at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2006 [7 favorites]
Pluto had the toy soldiers, driving their slaves to row around and around the planet without end. On Venus, the only way two parents could have a child was for one of them to die and give their soul away to the newcomer - birth was both a joy and a tragedy, and each newborn was ushered into the world with a baptism of tears at the one who had passed away moments before.
But Saturn was by far my favorite. Those people could fly; yet they had been forced to live underground by the damage done to the surface of their planet by their formerly warlike ways. And so they spent their lives far beneath the sky, in dark tunnels that were kept alight by tired old machines that were forever chugging and sputtering so that they could see, and so that they could breathe. Yet being able to see was not the gift it might seem; because it reminded them of their place, and that they would never get a chance to unfold their wings and would never know what it must have been like to soar past the clouds with absolute freedom.
Saturn, then, to me is a symbol of possibility unrealized, potential that has been wasted, and the regret one feels when they find out that they will forever be paying for a mistake made long ago. These pictures struck a very deep chord with me.
posted by kfx at 10:35 AM on October 16, 2006 [7 favorites]
Nifty. Thanks for this.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:18 PM on October 16, 2006
posted by Smedleyman at 2:18 PM on October 16, 2006
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posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:51 AM on October 16, 2006