Explanation: What has the Cassini orbiter seen at Saturn? The featured music video shows some of the early highlights. In the first time-lapse sequence (00:07), a vertical line appears that is really Saturn's thin rings seen nearly edge-on. Soon some of Saturn's moon shoot past. The next sequence (00:11) features Saturn's unusually wavy F-ring that is constrained by the two shepherd moons that are also continually perturbing it. Soon much of Saturn's extensive ring system flashes by, sometimes juxtaposed to the grandeur of the immense planet itself. Cloud patterns on Titan (00:39) and Saturn (00:41) are highlighted. Clips from flybys of several of Saturn's moon are then shown, including Phoebe, Mimas, Epimetheus, and Iapetus. In other sequences, moons of Saturn appear to pass each other as they orbit Saturn. Background star fields seen by Cassini are sometimes intruded upon by bright passing moons. The robotic Cassini spacecraft has been revolutionizing humanity's knowledge of Saturn and its moons since2004. In September, Cassini's mission will be brought to a dramatic conclusion as the spacecraft will be directed to dive into ringed giant.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 4:13 am
by Jim Leff
That was great.
We're accustomed to static, calm astronomical images, because we're invariably looking across great distances at large things. It's easy to forget how dynamic it all actually is.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:35 am
by felixapod
Tense movie opening. I could almost see the credits. The characters will find out Saturn, itself, is alive.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:24 am
by Nitpicker
Cool arthouse cinema. I love it. Cassini won't have a Hollywood ending, either.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 10:26 am
by Lasse H
It could have been an interesting film if it hadn't been for the exaggerated speed. This hysterical compilation doesn't tell me anything...
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 11:00 am
by RedFishBlueFish
This set of images almost makes one think there might be something to Copernicus's idea after all.
As the Flagship class robotic space-probe Cassini–Huygens reaches the end of its mission, one cannot help but think of the final words of the infinitely more advanced Nexus-6 robot Roy Batty: All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
Thank you for putting together Cassini's moments to share across time.
Evocative.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 12:49 pm
by Tszabeau
Lasse H wrote:It could have been an interesting film if it hadn't been for the exaggerated speed. This hysterical compilation doesn't tell me anything...
If you can control your laughter long enough, you can slow the movie down by using your thumb.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 1:10 pm
by Astronymus
Too bad you have to install Flash to see it...
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 1:16 pm
by E Fish
Fascinating views of Saturn. I'm going to be so interested to see Cassini's final moments. Mind-boggling to the end.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 1:18 pm
by Chris Peterson
Astronymus wrote:Too bad you have to install Flash to see it...
No you don't. It's an HTML5 video. If your browser is requiring Flash, you're either running a very obsolete system or you have something misconfigured. (Note that it runs fine on mobile devices that don't even offer Flash as an option.)
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 1:36 pm
by neufer
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Nitpicker wrote:
Cool arthouse cinema. I love it.
Cassini won't have a Hollywood ending, either.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 1:43 pm
by sunson
RedFishBlueFish wrote:This set of images almost makes one think there might be something to Copernicus's idea after all.
And the idea is....?
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:20 pm
by douglas
Lasse H wrote:It could have been an interesting film if it hadn't been for the exaggerated speed. This hysterical compilation doesn't tell me anything...
It says "Vimeo Staff Pick" -- don't tell me Vimeo forced Abbas to condense it, and only then was it worthy of a "Staff Pick"??
That's a little unusual as Vimeo has some of the finest videos around.
Some of those phenomena are deserving of serious "grokking in fullness". Some? Most.
/laughter at your "hysterical", very good that was.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:25 pm
by Chris Peterson
douglas wrote:Some of those phenomena are deserving of serious "grokking in fullness". Some? Most.
And there are hundreds of videos and thousands of images out there serving that purpose. But that wasn't the intent of this video. It wasn't supposed to teach us anything about Saturn, but rather, to offer a kind of gestalt view of the Cassini mission, to saturate our senses with the huge range of data that was collected.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 3:59 pm
by Astronymus
Chris Peterson wrote:
Astronymus wrote:Too bad you have to install Flash to see it...
No you don't. It's an HTML5 video. If your browser is requiring Flash, you're either running a very obsolete system or you have something misconfigured. (Note that it runs fine on mobile devices that don't even offer Flash as an option.)
Found the problem. NoScript didn't gave the rights. Not obsolete or misconfigured, just too safe. Nice video.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:13 pm
by tekija
RedFishBlueFish wrote:This set of images almost makes one think there might be something to Copernicus's idea after all.
As the Flagship class robotic space-probe Cassini–Huygens reaches the end of its mission, one cannot help but think of the final words of the infinitely more advanced Nexus-6 robot Roy Batty: All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
Thank you for putting together Cassini's moments to share across time.
Evocative.
Possibly the most famous improvised line, and moreover ending a brilliant concatenation by the actor of an obviously boring scripted monologue, in movie history:
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:16 pm
by majoraward
Amazing. Great Fathers Day present (for me).
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:31 pm
by douglas
Chris Peterson wrote:
douglas wrote:Some of those phenomena are deserving of serious "grokking in fullness". Some? Most.
And there are hundreds of videos and thousands of images out there serving that purpose. But that wasn't the intent of this video. It wasn't supposed to teach us anything about Saturn, but rather, to offer a kind of gestalt view of the Cassini mission, to saturate our senses with the huge range of data that was collected.
I've viewed some number of Vimeos and I've never seen one that played at that speed. Many of the images require a moment to orient the spatial setup so stacking them rapid-fire is really not a good idea.
I think what is obvious is Mr. Abbas has certainly expressed he's capable of putting together a very good video, but what we're seeing there is a product of some production pressure. That's what was 'taught'. The gestalt of Cassini is not a hurried presentation, to be sure, nor is it something to the effect of 'they'll take what we give them', now, is it? Nor 'hold your tongue'? Heh.
For what it's worth, it did play slightly slower in Firefox.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:40 pm
by Chris Peterson
douglas wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
douglas wrote:Some of those phenomena are deserving of serious "grokking in fullness". Some? Most.
And there are hundreds of videos and thousands of images out there serving that purpose. But that wasn't the intent of this video. It wasn't supposed to teach us anything about Saturn, but rather, to offer a kind of gestalt view of the Cassini mission, to saturate our senses with the huge range of data that was collected.
I've viewed some number of Vimeos and I've never seen one that played at that speed. Many of the images require a moment to orient the spatial setup so stacking them rapid-fire is really not a good idea.
I think what is obvious is Mr. Abbas has certainly expressed he's capable of putting together a very good video, but what we're seeing there is a product of some production pressure. That's what was 'taught'. The gestalt of Cassini is not a hurried presentation, to be sure, nor is it something to the effect of 'they'll take what we give them', now, is it? Nor 'hold your tongue'? Heh.
Well, Mr Abbas can comment if he'd like, but my take is that it's playing exactly as intended (and personally, I think it works very well this way).
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 5:54 pm
by steve Wiggins
Has anyone addressed the 72 pounds of plutonium that will soon be dispersed into Saturn's biosphere? Is it too late to re-route Cassini to some known dead moon?
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:06 pm
by Chris Peterson
steve Wiggins wrote:Has anyone addressed the 72 pounds of plutonium that will soon be dispersed into Saturn's biosphere? Is it too late to re-route Cassini to some known dead moon?
That plutonium (and all the other materials that make up Cassini) are enough to actually contaminate a moon, to damage future science opportunities. It will have no significant impact on Saturn at all, which is so much bigger and already contains plutonium in much greater quantities.
Saturn was specifically chosen as the place to end the mission in order to avoid contaminating small bodies in the Saturnian system.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:13 pm
by distefanom
Intense...
Also evocative of the 2001 movie, which neufer correctly posted.
Btw, I wonder what are those grey concentric circles can be seen in most of the images, but most of them in the very same place in different images?
Maybe something on the lenses? do stardust can deposit on the lenses/mirrors???
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 7:38 pm
by Gaplets
@distefanom Dust it is. Called "doughnuts". More dust is collected the longer the mission goes on.
Re: APOD: Views from Cassini at Saturn (2017 Jun 18)
Posted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 8:09 pm
by douglas
Chris Peterson wrote:
douglas wrote:
Chris Peterson wrote:
And there are hundreds of videos and thousands of images out there serving that purpose. But that wasn't the intent of this video. It wasn't supposed to teach us anything about Saturn, but rather, to offer a kind of gestalt view of the Cassini mission, to saturate our senses with the huge range of data that was collected.
I've viewed some number of Vimeos and I've never seen one that played at that speed. Many of the images require a moment to orient the spatial setup so stacking them rapid-fire is really not a good idea.
I think what is obvious is Mr. Abbas has certainly expressed he's capable of putting together a very good video, but what we're seeing there is a product of some production pressure. That's what was 'taught'. The gestalt of Cassini is not a hurried presentation, to be sure, nor is it something to the effect of 'they'll take what we give them', now, is it? Nor 'hold your tongue'? Heh.
Well, Mr Abbas can comment if he'd like, but my take is that it's playing exactly as intended (and personally, I think it works very well this way).
He looks to have added to this, and sped it up. https://vimeo.com/56694843
Check it out at 1:25 - 1:30, moon looking retrograde from Cassini's perspective? Impossibly cool.
Same moon clip in this one at :50 mark, https://vimeo.com/153636281
Same speed feature in that video, too, so that's artistic license.
A tip to Mr. Abbas: a god of that grandeur is so far beyond words, speaking, or names as to render them useless. In fact, words used to address such a god would be indicative of anxiety in one's relation to that god. Foregone.
Another tip to Mr. Abbas: when your source photographer is a robot, it deprives a viewer of a photo the effect of the human mind's presence in taking the picture. Stacking a robot's pictures makes it very, very hard to be 'telepresent' in the photo. A fast-presented robot stack is beyond a human's capability of appreciation. Perhaps the intent was to celebrate a robot's presence? (slow it down)
Views from Cassini at Saturn
Nice video.