by kovil » Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:04 pm
Moontrail,
It's a trick of the light, thru orientation.
As our eyes are not genetically programed to see objects in space and the topsy-turvy lighting they so often have; because there is no "up and down".
Our genetic programing is orientated to having a gravitational field present for reference of up and down. In space that is not the case.
I used to have a lot of problems with the early moon photos, as the craters looked like upsidedown saucers; the dips looked like bumps and vice versa. The shadow problem of correct orientation. Even turning the photo over didn't solve the 'correct resolution problem' most of the time, once in a while it did.
Here, the terminator on the moon is the key. It shows the sunlight is coming from the oblique right side of the photo. This means that the part of Saturn's ring that is casting the shadow on the moon is NOT the part of the ring that is in the photo; but our eye wants to see it as thus. The far away part of the ring; on the other side of Saturn, is casting the shadow on the moon.
The part of the ring in the photo is illuminated from below, it looks like the ring is above the moon; which it is on THIS side of Saturn. The ring is reversed on the OTHER side of Saturn, to be lower, and so that lowers it just enough to slice across the top of the moon, which is on the other side of Saturn; as well as the part of the ring which is casting the shadow across the very top of the moon.
Hope this helps unscramble your eye's programing in the brain which we all have.
I was once trying to read words on the tv screen while lying down, and I could not resolve the letters into words fast enough to read it, it was unintelligible; because I was not perpendicular to the writing I could not resolve it into words. A trick of orientation problem, just like light and shadow in a space environment.
Moontrail,
It's a trick of the light, thru orientation.
As our eyes are not genetically programed to see objects in space and the topsy-turvy lighting they so often have; because there is no "up and down".
Our genetic programing is orientated to having a gravitational field present for reference of up and down. In space that is not the case.
I used to have a lot of problems with the early moon photos, as the craters looked like upsidedown saucers; the dips looked like bumps and vice versa. The shadow problem of correct orientation. Even turning the photo over didn't solve the 'correct resolution problem' most of the time, once in a while it did.
Here, the terminator on the moon is the key. It shows the sunlight is coming from the oblique right side of the photo. This means that the part of Saturn's ring that is casting the shadow on the moon is NOT the part of the ring that is in the photo; but our eye wants to see it as thus. The far away part of the ring; on the other side of Saturn, is casting the shadow on the moon.
The part of the ring in the photo is illuminated from below, it looks like the ring is above the moon; which it is on THIS side of Saturn. The ring is reversed on the OTHER side of Saturn, to be lower, and so that lowers it just enough to slice across the top of the moon, which is on the other side of Saturn; as well as the part of the ring which is casting the shadow across the very top of the moon.
Hope this helps unscramble your eye's programing in the brain which we all have.
I was once trying to read words on the tv screen while lying down, and I could not resolve the letters into words fast enough to read it, it was unintelligible; because I was not perpendicular to the writing I could not resolve it into words. A trick of orientation problem, just like light and shadow in a space environment.