(Herschel's View of G49 Filament)
.
Welcome back MY Dear Shoevians to The Other Shoe. Today I
have a wonderful edition of ‘Lost in Space’ to share with all of
you. This edition features NASA’s ‘Cassini’ project. We start
today’s edition with the wondrous image above taken at the Herschel Space Observatory at
the California
Institute of Technology. This striking image is of a huge filamentary
structures of gas and dust, within our Milky Way Galaxy, named G49.
.
While
consisting of nothing more than gas and G49 stretches 280 light-years in
length with a diameter that is only about 5 light-years across. It is amazing
to image that this one filament, within our own galaxy,
contains an equivalent mass of 80,000 suns! When we view these
interstellar phenomenon, we begin to realize, though our planet’s construction
is complete? Our solar system and our galaxy are in a continuous state of flux,
birth and rebirth. Kind of makes a person think,
right?
.
(Mission Patch for the Cassini CIRS)
.
Now,
on to the main subject of today’s edition of ‘Lost in Space’. The
Cassini project started, on the drawing table, in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
It was to be the single most ambitious space project, headed to Saturn, in the
history of NASA. For astronomers Saturn, and its moon Titan, sparks the imagination. The most
mysterious of the Jovian/Gas
Giant planets, Saturn has been the focus of scientific debate. From the
rings of Saturn to its
thirty-year0long storms, to the odd
shaped moons to Titan. Saturn is
at the center of much science fiction, and fantasy. Cassini was the mission to pull back the veil on
Saturn, and Titan.
.
(Saturn)
.
Cassini was not only one of the
most ambitious projects undertaken by NASA/, the European Space Agency (ESA) and
the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). It was the
one of the largest, and the second heaviest, non-manned spacecraft
ever launched. Standing to a height of more than 22 feet (6.7 meters) and 13.1 wide (4 meters) Cassini was an enormous spacecraft. The total weight, at launch, of both the Cassini spacecraft and the Huygens probe was 12,539 pounds (5,712 kilograms). Only the Former
Soviet Union-made (two) Phobos spacecraft weighed more, at
the time of launch. Cassini was launched October 15, 1997, at 4:43 a.m. Eastern
Daylight Time (0843 Universal Time) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in
Florida aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur launch system – the most powerful launch
vehicle in the U.S. fleet.
.
(Cassini Spacecraft)
.
Ok… … … All of you, My Dear Shoevians, all know
and understand that I (Danny Hanning-Author/Editor/Researcher/Publisher) am a truthful a person as one could possibly ever meet, right? You have learned of my physical disabilities,
just as soon as the get worse. Know when I ran an Indiegogo Campaign for my
needed power chair, since I drag my left foot and can barely walk. Know when I was diagnosed with cancer,
and what type. You, My Dear Shoevians, know I
am truthful and that I will always tell you
the truth.
.
I
started this article on June 5th,
2015 (Friday) for publication last week.
Well, on Friday there were problems with availability (for publication) at my primary blog location (www.theothershoe.blog.com). Here
it is Monday June 8th, 2015 the following Monday. I got to my blog
location, hoping to be able to upload my Mars and Cassini images, and find that
it is still ‘down’. (Meaning I am getting ‘502’ and ‘504’ page errors. I’ve checked
it is their server and not me). That
leaves me with; publishing today’s ‘The Mars Report’ at my other two ‘secondary/tertiary
locations.
.
I
am not happy about this situation. I am now behind-the-eightball’ for nearly two dozen images to upload,
uploading two articles, and
embedding those two dozen images into the two articles. All that has to be
done, prior to my publication at my primary
blog location. This leads to frustration, and adds to the obstacles between me and my goal of
publishing ‘tri-blog’ as it where. Just wanted to let all of you, My
Dear Shoevians, know there are difficulties
and I am working to correct them. I hope, that within the next couple of
days, the problem at Blog.com will get resolved. Once that happens I will publish all missing articles, and
announce the publication on all social media. Now, as they say in the
entertainment industry, “On with the show!”
.
Now,
My
Dear Shoevians, there are not a lot of color images that are coming back from Cassini. The black/white
images are of the highest quality and are HD in resolution. They are just not
in color, and I wanted to warn all of
you of that fact. In our next image
we see something that had the NASA/JPL scientists scratching their heads for
months. When taking passing images of Saturn’s moon Enceladus, they witnessed a
phenomenon of unexplained origin. Check it out!
.
(Icy Tendrils Reaching into Saturn Ring Traced to
Their Source)
.
These
long and sinuous threads, that stretch from somewhere near/around Enceladus to
Saturn’s rings. Above are some of the best images of these threads, along with
a computer simulation that allowed the scientists to figure out where they originate. Enceladus. It seems
that evidence proves that these tendrils originate from geysers erupting on the
surface of Enceladus. Icy and very strong geysers shooting blasts of
sediment, rock and dust from the surface of Enceladus to the rings of Saturn.
.
"We've been able to show that each unique
tendril structure can be reproduced by particular sets of geysers on the moon's
surface," said Colin Mitchell, a Cassini imaging team associate at the
Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and lead author of the paper. Mitchell
and colleagues used computer simulations to follow the trajectories of
ice grains ejected from
individual geysers. The geysers, which were discovered by Cassini in 2005, are
jets of tiny water ice particles, water vapor and simple organic compounds.”
.
For
our next image I have found, and prepared, a moving GIF. This is a
series of several images stacked by an image processing program so that it
appears in one frame, and in sequence. I like using GIFs, in my blogs, as they
add a little flare and entertainment to scientific material. Today’s GIF is of
Saturn’s second largest moon Rhea passing overhead of Saturn’s fourth largest moon, Dione. What makes
this image… amusing? Rhea is a larger moon than Dione, yet in this image Dione is in the foreground and looks much larger! Here is “Dione Dwarfing Rhea”
.
(Dione Dwarfing Rhea)
.
HYPERION-
Gotta
be, hands down, the single funkiest shaped moon, like, ever!
This from a guy that was looking at images of the moons of Saturn,
Jupiter and Mars in my family’s Encyclopedia
Britannica as a boy of 8 and ten years old. I’ve seen icy moons, I’ve seen blue moons,
I’ve seen shimmering moons and I’ve
seen red moons. However, never
before in my life have I seen a moon that looks like a peanut! Well. My Dear Shoevians, you are about to see the moon Hyperion for yourself.
Tell me, what do you think?
.
(Hyperion)
.
Hyperion
was discovered by by William Cranch Bond, George Phillips Bond and William
Lassell in
1848. These men first noticed that not only was it irregularly shaped but also
that it kept an erratic and irregular (even chaotic) orbit with Saturn. It was Cassini’s
imaging that brought it’s sponge-like surface into full focus.
Imaging and sounding from Hyperion shows that it has an unusually low density
and very porous surface. That gives Hyperion a very low gravitational pull,
resulting in impact craters show impacting rather than excavating material on
impact. Our next image is a false-color image
created by NASA/JPL to reflect how it should
look in color images.
.
(False-Color View of Hyperion)
.
On
May 31st, 2015 (just days ago, when I wrote this article) Cassini
passed within 21,000 miles
from the surface of Hyperion. TO us,
that seems like kind of a long distance 21,000 miles. However, in space? In space that 21,000 miles is
nearly too close. For our imaging systems and hardware, this gives us
a unique opportunity to gain real clarity thanks to the short distance. This was Cassini’s
final flyby of the moon Hyperion.
Therefore, this was Canssini’s ‘Farwell Image of Hyperion’.
.
(Cassini Sends Final Close Views of Odd Moon
Hyperion)
.
For
decades mankind has wondered at Titan. The largest of all of Saturn’s many many moons, even from Earth Titan has a
yellowish/green surface. Titan is the only
moon of Saturn that has dense atmosphere and stable bodies of liquid on the surface. That last one
there; “stable body of liquid on the
surface”? That one give Titan the distinction of being the only ‘other’ planet than EARTH! Have I peaked your curiosity?
.
Good,
because until Cassini scientists have been left with speckled images of the surface of Titan.
.
“Typically, Cassini's radar
images have a characteristic grainy appearance. This "speckle noise"
can make it difficult for scientists to interpret small-scale features or
identify changes in images of the same area taken at different times.
Despeckling uses an algorithm to modify the noise, resulting in clearer views
that can be easier for researchers to interpret.”
.
Here
is the despeckling of Titan!
.
(A New Way to View Titan 'Despeckle' It)
.
The
second largest planet in our solar system, Sol. Saturn is second in size only
to Jupiter. A Jovian planet it is a Gas
Giant thought to have no surface or a very
small surface at the center under tremendous gravitational pull. Saturn has
a long standing mystery that adds to
its scientific appeal and popularity among younger and junior astronomers and
scientists. The mystery of Saturn is
the reason/cause for the (well
documented by 140 years of telescope observations) enormous seething storms seen
every 30 years on the surface. Mankind has been witness to the start of the
enormous storms six times in that 140-year period.
.
When
I say “Enormous’, My Dear Shoevians, I really
and genuinely mean enormous.
In that they tend to fill entire bands of the atmosphere, fully 1/3 of
a hemisphere in size. Saturn is 95 times larger than earth, so these bands
would be wide in miles than the diameter of Earth! In my lifetime I have
witnessed three different storms on the planet Saturn. The third, and last,
started in August of 2010 and ended in August 2011. Considering the next super-enormous storm will appear on Saturn’s surface in 2041, this will be my last storm.
.
Thank
Goodness that
NASA/JPL had Cassini in the immediate neighborhood during this last super-enormous storm! I am still looking for a good GIF for the even, but have yet
to find one. If I don’t find one in
the next few months I will make one of my own, and share it in a feature
edition of ‘Lost in Space’. Here is a series of six images of the surface of Saturn, during the last Thrity-Year
Super-Enormous Storm.
.
(View of Saturn’s Thirty-Year Violent Storms –
Northern Hemisphere)
.
As
Cassini
initially headed for these icy moons,
it took some parting pictures of Rhea as
it passed within close range. Our next images are framed as one and show two of
the best images Cassini took with its last glimpses of this icy giant. Rhea- Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn, second only to Titan, and is the ninth largest moon in our entire solar system. The images, below,
are some of the best images ever taken of Saturn’s moon, Rhea.
.
(Rhea-Saturn Spacecraft Returns to the Realm of Icy
Moons)
.
Well, My Dear Shoevians, we come to the end of this edition of ‘Lost
in Space’. I am pleased to inform you that you have just; read,
witnessed, wondered, smiled and viewed the most recent ‘Gargantuan’ edition
of ‘Lost in Space’! That particular article designation is saved
for use by editions only numbering greater than fifteen
pages, when written, and contain twelve or more images. BINGO! This article, prior to editing and
upload, numbers 15 right now… I still have the last image… …. My parting words…
… the copyright… … logo is coming soon… … an image of me… … YES! It will easily be 17 pages when I upload this
puppy!
.
‘The Best for
Last!’ Should
be the motto for both article series; ‘The Mars Report’ and “Lost
in Space’. Today shall be no exception for, right here and right now,
I have for you the single most stunning… the
single most incredible… … the single
Best
Image of the Edition!
.
(Saturn's C and B Rings From the Inside Out)
FYI
[This image was taken with the Ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrograph instrument, which is capable of resolving the rings to show
features up to 97 kilometers (60 miles) across, roughly 100 times the
resolution of ultraviolet data obtained by the Voyager 2 spacecraft.]
.
Awesome. Just frigging awesome. Right there, My
Dear Shoevians, that image right
there is the why I; research, upload, link,
write, edit and publish ‘The Mars Report’ and ‘Lost
in Space’ here at The
Other Shoe. If, in the
past five years of publication, I manage to get to an image like
this one to a; thousand, hundred, dozens of people from all around the
world that might not, have. If not
for me. THAT IS WHY! J
.
As always it is my pleasure
to bring this material and images to you My
Dear Shoevians. If you have enjoyed your time spent here? Please tell others. Tell your family.
Tell your friends. Tell your co-workers. Tell you In-Laws. That is how we grow.
.
.
.
.
© 2010 – 2015
Hanning Web Wurx and The Other Shoe
#/media/File:Dawn_logo.png){kind=link}
