Ring Plane Crossing

April 22, 2007 10:35 PM

This life-like movie sequence captures Saturn's rings during a ring plane crossing--which Cassini makes twice per orbit--from the spacecraft's point of view. The movie begins with a view of the sunlit side of the rings. As the spacecraft speeds from south to north, the rings appear to tilt downward and collapse to a thin plane, and then open again to reveal the un-illuminated side of the ring plane, where sunlight filters through only dimly.

The Great Crossing -- The Movie (7 MB)
posted by y2karl (13 comments total)

That is very cool, thank you.
posted by taosbat at 10:42 PM on April 22, 2007

Thats gorgeous. Thanks.
posted by vacapinta at 10:45 PM on April 22, 2007

Quite nice, but I prefer something a bit spicier ... Marineris, say, with a side of narration.
(8.7 MB Quicktime file)
posted by rob511 at 10:59 PM on April 22, 2007

Beautiful, but oddly artificial-looking without the planet in the frame to give a visual reference to the perspective.
posted by lekvar at 11:02 PM on April 22, 2007

It's amazing that we can send our machines out there and capture these images.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 11:23 PM on April 22, 2007

No big, I can do that transition in PowerPoint.

Imagine what kind of mythology and calendars we would have if our cultures formed on a planet with seven spheroid moons.
posted by lostburner at 11:36 PM on April 22, 2007

A while ago I saw a TRW(?) souvenir from the late 70s. Published to congratulate Pioneer 11 on a successful mission, it was a tiny flip book depicting what Pioneer 11 would have seen as it zipped past Saturn, all in glorious grainy CG black and white.
posted by zamboni at 11:56 PM on April 22, 2007

That was cool. I was particularly interested in the motion of the various moons. lostburner is right; that sort of moon-action would have made our sky-watching lives much more complicated.
posted by mmahaffie at 4:43 AM on April 23, 2007

WE GET IT. YOU HAVE AN AGENDA. PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE WHO VISITS THIS SITE UNDERSTANDS YOU LIKE SATURN
posted by horsemuth at 5:52 AM on April 23, 2007 [7 favorites]

Saturn, you're the greatest. You're pretty OK too, y2karl. My kids will love this.
posted by Mister_A at 6:38 AM on April 23, 2007

Imagine what kind of mythology and calendars we would have if our cultures formed on a planet with seven spheroid moons.

Seven different kinds of MoonPies.
posted by Fuzzy Monster at 7:55 AM on April 23, 2007

Previously -- YouTube version of the movie.
posted by ericb at 8:43 AM on April 23, 2007

I love cool astronomy posts, and this one is lovely. My girlfriend teaches physics - each one gets emailed straight to her! Thanks y2karl.
posted by algreer at 2:16 PM on April 23, 2007