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Cassini: Saturn Images & Video — Parallax Forums

Cassini: Saturn Images & Video

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
edited 2011-09-09 19:25 in General Discussion
Nice imagery from the Cassini robotic orbiter... is it worth 3.26 billion dollars? You be the judge...

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/nasa-cassini-orbiter-snaps-unbelievable-picture-saturn-144133480.html
http://www.tecca.com/news/2011/03/15/saturn-fly-by-video/
saturn-cassini.jpg
630 x 328 - 18K

Comments

  • lanternfishlanternfish Posts: 366
    edited 2011-09-08 18:50
    "... is it worth the 3.26 billion dollars?" - hell yeah!
  • SeariderSearider Posts: 290
    edited 2011-09-08 20:05
    Omg !
    Omg !
  • Bobb FwedBobb Fwed Posts: 1,119
    edited 2011-09-09 08:31
    lanternfish wrote: »
    "... is it worth the 3.26 billion dollars?" - hell yeah!
    +1
  • Bill ChennaultBill Chennault Posts: 1,198
    edited 2011-09-09 14:48
    erco--

    Yes. It is worth the money. I do not know what the data is doing for science. But, the images are doing a tremendous amount to boost human inspiration.

    --Bill
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    edited 2011-09-09 15:33
    erco wrote: »
    is it worth 3.26 billion dollars?

    My taxes paid for this probe. Since there are about 300,000,000 US citizens my individual share was in the USD$10 range. I'd say I got well more than my money's worth.

    Now my share of the Iraq war, on the other hand, could have bought me a fairly nice car and I'm not happy with that investment at all.
  • RDL2004RDL2004 Posts: 2,554
    edited 2011-09-09 15:43
    Did you guys watch the video clip created from Cassini images? It's apparently part of a movie project in the works. Very nice, no CGI, no 3D models...

    http://www.outsideinthemovie.com/
  • Dave HeinDave Hein Posts: 6,347
    edited 2011-09-09 16:10
    localroger wrote: »
    My taxes paid for this probe. Since there are about 300,000,000 US citizens my individual share was in the USD$10 range. I'd say I got well more than my money's worth.
    The U.S. portion was $2.6 billion. ESA paid $500 million and ASI paid $160 million. So the per capita portion of the U.S. portion was $8.67. A portion of that was from borrowed funds, so the per capita tax is probably now down to around $5. What a bargain! Oh wait, only about half of the workers pay any tax, so now we're back in the $10 range. For a family of four with one wage earner that would be about $40, and my portion of the debt is probably around $30. Wow! I think each of us should get a large framed print of that picture and a BluRay of the video! :)
  • HumanoidoHumanoido Posts: 5,770
    edited 2011-09-09 19:25
    That's what I call "fantastic!" If you look at the photo, at the wealth of detail, there's existence of multiple new ring structures never before seen due to the rare moment caught in the image with the camera / ring's orbital positioning and scattered backlighting with ring filtering. The artistic beauty alone is magnificent and it's a bonus that science will extract new knowledge and discoveries from this event for years to come.
  • Francis BauerFrancis Bauer Posts: 365
    The Cassini spacecraft did a great job in increasing our knowledge of Saturn and its moons, but all good things must come to end as it was intentionally crashed into Saturn to prevent any contamination of the Saturnian moons.

    See the following link to what was recently observed from Earth.
  • msrobotsmsrobots Posts: 3,709
    ahh, so better not contaminate the moons, contaminate the planet instead!

    brilliant,

    Mike
  • localrogerlocalroger Posts: 3,451
    As I have pointed out elsewhere, Saturn itself might be the larger inhabitable environment. Even though it is a large planet it is also mostly lightweight elements, so the gravity at it surface is around a familiar 1G. And while it's freezing cold out in the outer solar system as you dive into the planet it gets warmer, and it turns out there is a stratum where it's about Earth atmospheric pressure and about Earth temperature. If you were floating in a balloon at that point, you would only need a respirator supplying oxygen to live in the environment. Energy and metals would be a problem of course, but there would be hydrocarbons all around in the clouds. Bacteria would probably figure out a way to make it work.
  • JonathanJonathan Posts: 1,023
    msrobots wrote: »
    ahh, so better not contaminate the moons, contaminate the planet instead!

    brilliant,

    Mike

    It'll burn up before it hits the planet. It's not likely that it would have infected the moons, but they are just being careful.

  • msrobotsmsrobots Posts: 3,709
    @localroger,

    as abundant life on our planet is, and found in some places humans can not exist at all, I am pretty sure Bacteria already have figured out how to live on Saturn. Maybe even more complex organism, we just don't know yet.

    Interesting idea about floating cities on those big planets, never occurred to me. What a huge amount of real estate in our own solar system.

    Nice,

    Mike
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    Life is simply amazing.

    If my memory serves me correctly, they have found life on Earth...

    Around the thermal vents some 5 miles deep in the ocean. Great pressures here can crush metal pipes. No sunlight. Yet both plants and fish enhabit the surrounds.

    In the upper atmosphere, they have found bacteria. Low pressure, Heigh UV sunlight, low temperatures.

    In space, DNA has survived space shuttle launch, orbit, and return. Temperatures, pressures, UV and space radiation.

    Makes me wonder where there isn't life, and not necessarily as we know it.

    Even though Cassini will burn up quickly in Saturns atmosphere, it's still possible to contaminate levels of the atmosphere, which would ultimately reach all levels including the "ground".

    In the last couple of years the space probes and rovers have returned so much mind boggling information about our planets and moons. Makes me wonder what they will learn next. It's so exciting to live in this era, excluding the terrorism of course!
  • HughHugh Posts: 362
    Cluso99 wrote: »
    If my memory serves me correctly, they have found life on Earth...

    But is there intelligent life on Earth?

  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,069
    Hugh wrote: »
    Cluso99 wrote: »
    If my memory serves me correctly, they have found life on Earth...

    But is there intelligent life on Earth?
    Depends on your definition of "intelligent".

    Sometimes I doubt that the human race is intelligent. Well, at least some of the humans anyway.

    Then again, you could say some trees are intelligent. Giraffes always eat leaves from trees downwind first, working their way upwind. This is because when the tree determines its leaves are being attacked, it turns them sour. Also, trees downwind also turn their leaves sour. Isn't this intelligent ???
  • msrobotsmsrobots Posts: 3,709
    And you always have to remember that 50% are LESS intelligent as the average being.

    just saying,

    Mike
  • HughHugh Posts: 362
    The UK Schools Minister once said he wanted "all schools to be above average".
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    That's easy. Go back to the old days when the below average people did not go to school.

  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2017-09-25 08:51
    Something broke in the link to the "short flyby film" in the OP's link. It now takes me to random porno and dating sites!
    I guess that is Yahoo for you.

  • kwinnkwinn Posts: 8,697
    Hugh wrote: »
    The UK Schools Minister once said he wanted "all schools to be above average".

    Nice thought, but it also makes me wonder if the UK Schools Minister understands the meaning of average. That is the kind of statement that makes me wonder about the intelligence of bureaucrats and elected officials. Or that removes all doubt.

  • ASKMEASKME Posts: 172
    Sure it's worth it, give or take 3.26 billion dollars.
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