Cassini ring images delight scientists
Posted: Fri, Jul 2, 2004, 10:21 AM ET (1421 GMT)
Images of Saturn's rings taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it entered orbit around the planet this week are pleasing and surprising scientists with their level of detail and complexity. The images, transmitted to Earth on Thursday, hours after the spacecraft entered orbit, provided scientists with their sharpest view yet of the complex system or rings surrounding the planet. The images reveal patterns of density waves in the rings, as well as the scalloped inner edge of a ring, shaped by the gravity of a nearby moon. Other scientists reported that Cassini encountered the bow shock of the planet's magnetosphere earlier than expected, indicating that the bow shock was about 50 percent farther from the planet than where it was when Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 flew past the planet between 1979 and 1981.
Images of Saturn's rings taken by the Cassini spacecraft as it entered orbit around the planet this week are pleasing and surprising scientists with their level of detail and complexity. The images, transmitted to Earth on Thursday, hours after the spacecraft entered orbit, provided scientists with their sharpest view yet of the complex system or rings surrounding the planet. The images reveal patterns of density waves in the rings, as well as the scalloped inner edge of a ring, shaped by the gravity of a nearby moon. Other scientists reported that Cassini encountered the bow shock of the planet's magnetosphere earlier than expected, indicating that the bow shock was about 50 percent farther from the planet than where it was when Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 flew past the planet between 1979 and 1981.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
Virgin Galactic slightly delays resumption of commercial flights
Posted: Sat, Aug 9 11:05 AM ET (1505 GMT) |
|
news links
|
|
Saturday, August 16
Firefly Aerospace: The Space Stock You Should Not Buy
SeekingAlpha — 9:43 am ET (1343 GMT) Arielle Roth's First Headache? Call It the Musk Migraine
Broadband Breakfast — 9:41 am ET (1341 GMT) Space Systems Command Activates New Systems Delta
US Space Force — 9:40 am ET (1340 GMT) Coastal Commission Unanimously Rejects SpaceX Launch Expansion at Vandenberg
Santa Barbara (CA) Independent — 9:39 am ET (1339 GMT) California commission rejects proposal to increase SpaceX rocket launches
The Hill — 9:36 am ET (1336 GMT) |
