{"id":12409,"date":"2016-03-29T01:51:31","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T05:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12409"},"modified":"2016-03-29T01:51:31","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T05:51:31","slug":"saturn-dark-moons-dark-rings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12409","title":{"rendered":"Saturn: “Dark Moons, Dark Rings”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Great image from the Cassini probe<\/a> of two moons above Saturn’s rings:<\/p>\n

Dark Moons, Dark Rings<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When taking images in directions opposite from the sun, most objects appear dark. Surprisingly, however, some of Saturn’s rings get brighter.<\/p>\n

\"TwoMoonsAboveTheRings-PIA18360_hires\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Parts of Saturn’s main rings appear dark in backlit views, particularly the dense B ring (as can been seen in PIA14934<\/a>). However, some rings are comparatively tenuous and made up of dust particles that tend to scatter light in roughly the original direction it was traveling. This is called “forward scattering.” Because of forward scattering, rings like the F ring, which encircles the outer edge of the main rings, appear to glow brightly at this large viewing angle.<\/p>\n

Two moons hover above the rings from this perspective — Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across), at left, and Janus (111 miles or 179 kilometers across), at right.<\/p>\n

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 0.5 degrees below the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 21, 2015.<\/p>\n

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 136 degrees. Janus’ brightness was enhanced by a factor of two to improve its visibility in this image.<\/p>\n

The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit saturn.jpl.nasa.gov<\/a> and www.nasa.gov\/cassini<\/a>. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at ciclops.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Great image from the Cassini probe of two moons above Saturn’s rings: Dark Moons, Dark Rings When taking images in directions opposite from the sun, most objects appear dark. Surprisingly, however, some of Saturn’s rings get brighter. Parts of Saturn’s main rings appear dark in backlit views, particularly the dense B ring (as can been … Continue reading Saturn: “Dark Moons, Dark Rings”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-et-al","category-multiple-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-3e9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7358,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=7358","url_meta":{"origin":12409,"position":0},"title":"Cassini images hint at formation of a new Saturn moon","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturn's rings may be birthing a new moon: NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of New Saturn Moon\u00a0 NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to the formation of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al"","block_context":{"text":"Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=87"},"img":{"alt_text":"pia18078_peggy_0","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/pia18078_peggy_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13541,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13541","url_meta":{"origin":12409,"position":1},"title":"Cassini to graze Saturn’s rings and view moons close up in its mission finale","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Cassini spacecraft during its final year at Saturn will make some death defying dives bear\u00a0the edges of the rings: Now in its final year of operations, on Nov. 30, 2016, NASA\u2019s Cassini mission will begin a daring set of ring-grazing orbits, skimming past the outside edge of Saturn's main rings.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Europa, Titan, & other deep space sites"","block_context":{"text":"Europa, Titan, & other deep space sites","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=98"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/gj8l2f9prYk\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13840,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13840","url_meta":{"origin":12409,"position":2},"title":"Cassini returns detailed views of Saturn’s rings","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"NASA's Cassini probe at Saturn returns amazing views of the outer rings as it makes its final orbits before plunging into the planet's atmosphere on September 15th : Close Views Show Saturn's Rings in Unprecedented Detail Newly released images showcase the incredible closeness with which NASA's Cassini spacecraft, now in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al"","block_context":{"text":"Gas giants Saturn, Jupiter, et al","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=87"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/PIA21060_hires1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5263,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5263","url_meta":{"origin":12409,"position":3},"title":"Earth + Saturn in natural-color: new panoramic mosaic from NASA Cassini","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"A press release from NASA: NASA Cassini Spacecraft Provides New View of Saturn and Earth NASA has released a natural-color image of Saturn from space, the first in which Saturn, its moons and rings, and Earth, Venus and Mars, all are visible. The new panoramic mosaic of the majestic Saturn\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Saturn and it's moons","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/673xvariable_height\/public\/pia17172_full_annotatedcr.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5183,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5183","url_meta":{"origin":12409,"position":4},"title":"A quintet of Saturn moons","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The ESA posts a great picture of a\u00a0Quintet of Moons: The image description: Five moons pose for the international Cassini spacecraft to create this beautiful portrait with Saturn\u2019s rings. This view, from 29 July 2011, looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane. At\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceinimages.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2013\/11\/quintet_of_moons\/13373817-1-eng-GB\/Quintet_of_moons_node_full_image.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13637,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13637","url_meta":{"origin":12409,"position":5},"title":"Cassini captures great views of Saturn’s hexagonal north pole","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Some recent images of Saturn's hexagon shaped cloud patter on its north pole: Cassini Beams Back First Images from New Orbit NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sent to Earth its first views of Saturn\u2019s atmosphere since beginning the latest phase of its mission. The new images show scenes from high above\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Europa, Titan, & other deep space sites"","block_context":{"text":"Europa, Titan, & other deep space sites","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=98"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/pia210531.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12409"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12414,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12409\/revisions\/12414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}