[Liberator]

For those who don't know or have been living under a rock for 7 years, Cassini has arrived at Saturn.  Several days ago actually, I'm kinda surprised there's no thread about it.

Anyway, here's a link  to some nice images from the spacecraft.

BTW, the scale of the linked image is 132 KM per pixel.:thepimp:

[jdjtcagle]

Forgot where I heard this, but is it true you can hear the wind off of Saturn from where the the probe was?? I don't think it's possible IMO

[Rictor]

Nice pictures. But sadly, no wierd human-face like structure to be seen.

..or maybe NASA intentionally took the pics from the other side of the planet, to hide the evidence  

Its so cool that we can actually see what another planet looks like. Its still sort of creeps me out and at the same time fill me with wonder, what amazing feats humans are capable of.

[Liberator]

What'll be amazing is when we get a space station that isn't falling apart and wasn't designed with a ****ing fuse vital to the station's continued operation and the lives of the occupantson the OUTSIDE OF THE BEDAMNED THING

[Ace]

You know what would be great?

Huygens lands in a shallow methane pool, and a little critter crawls up with little legs and starts humping the probe. Then it stops working

[beatspete]

*random stab at those who think the moon landings where faked*


But theres no stars omg! it must be fakez0red.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Ace
You know what would be great?

Huygens lands in a shallow methane pool, and a little critter crawls up with little legs and starts humping the probe. Then it stops working

Something along those lines might actually happen when we finally get around to sending a probe to Europa.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by jdjtcagle
Forgot where I heard this, but is it true you can hear the wind off of Saturn from where the the probe was?? I don't think it's possible IMO

There was a recorded sound made when Cassini passed through the rings, IIRC.  Kind of eerie, hactually.

EDIT- this - http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/space-audio/cassini/bow-shock/

The Cassini spacecraft crossed the bow shock of Saturn at 09 hr 45 min Universal Time on June 27, 2004, at a radial distance of 49.2 RS (Saturn Radii) from Saturn. The bow shock is a discontinuity that forms in the solar wind when the supersonic solar wind encounters the magnetic field of a planet, very similar to the shock wave that forms upstream of an aircraft moving at a supersonic speed

Oh, and something related; http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=12905

[Moonsword]

Interesting...

[jdjtcagle]

WOW!, you have made my day!!

[ionia23]

I listened to the broadcast of this on NasaTV.  This is just so cool.  I can wait for Hyugens (sp) to land, and hope that is a success.

Assuming the thing actually lands on land, has anyone said why they don't expect it to last more than 2 hours?  I didn't think Titan's atmosphere was quite so hostile (as compared to, say, Venus).

[Liberator]

It's very cold on Titan, actaully colder than it is in space thanks to convection and conduction.  The electronics will proably freeze within hours.

[Tiara]

Ah yes, named after the Dutch astronomer. Dutch glory in space!

[aldo_14]

We should launch more probes - hundreds of them, all over the gaff.  It'd be a hell of a better investment than yet another bloody war, that's for sure.

[Rictor]

aldo: how about feeding the hungry, or curing diesease? I would have thought that would be an even greater priority. But of course, space exploration is still a better investement than war, thats for sure.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Rictor
aldo: how about feeding the hungry, or curing diesease? I would have thought that would be an even greater priority. But of course, space exploration is still a better investement than war, thats for sure.

Well, duh.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Rictor
aldo: how about feeding the hungry, or curing diesease? I would have thought that would be an even greater priority. But of course, space exploration is still a better investement than war, thats for sure.

Money isn't what is holding us back from feeding the hungry. Same goes for a lot of diseases.

Anyway that's a topic for a different thread.

[Flipside]

Cool, kinda reminds me of 1990 when Voyager 2 reached Saturn Theres something magical about close up shots of things incredibly far away

[karajorma]

Especially Saturn. With the exception of Earth Saturn is definately the beauty in the system

[Corsair]

Originally posted by beatspete
*random stab at those who think the moon landings where faked*


But theres no stars omg! it must be fakez0red.

And there's TWO LIGHT SOURCES! omgomgomgomg. and the flag is straight out flapping in the breeze! omggggggggggg!!!111oneoneone

*dies of aneurysm*