The Space Stuff thread

Five years ago this week (Thursday) ....

July 22, 2013
In this rare image taken on July 19, 2013, the wide-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured Saturn's rings and our planet Earth and its moon in the same frame. It is only one footprint in a mosaic of 33 footprints covering the entire Saturn ring system (including Saturn itself). At each footprint, images were taken in different spectral filters for a total of 323 images: some were taken for scientific purposes and some to produce a natural color mosaic. This is the only wide-angle footprint that has the Earth-moon system in it.

The dark side of Saturn, its bright limb, the main rings, the F ring, and the G and E rings are clearly seen; the limb of Saturn and the F ring are overexposed. The "breaks" in the brightness of Saturn's limb are due to the shadows of the rings on the globe of Saturn, preventing sunlight from shining through the atmosphere in those regions. The E and G rings have been brightened for better visibility.

Earth, which is 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away in this image, appears as a blue dot at center right; the moon can be seen as a fainter protrusion off its right side. An arrow indicates their location in the annotated version. (The two are clearly seen as separate objects in the accompanying narrow angle frame: PIA14949.) The other bright dots nearby are stars.

Saturn.JPL.NASA.Gov

If you look really close you can see the Moon.

(The two are clearly seen as separate objects in the accompanying narrow angle frame: PIA14949.)

Here is that narrow frame:



PIA14949 When there click on the picture to enlarge and see the Earth / Moon separation otherwise you will be looking at a mostly gray picture.

Hmm... The pix was taken at a distance of 898 million miles (1.44 billion kilometers) away, and 239,775miles scales to 3/16".

   Note

239,775miles is the Earth / Moon distance when picture was taken July 19, 2013.

NASA Live: Parker Solar Probe Launch

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe is targeted to launch at 3:33 a.m. Eastern tonight (that's Saturday, Aug. 11), aboard a Delta IV-Heavy rocket, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft, about the size of a small car, will travel directly into the Sun's atmosphere about 4 million miles from our star's surface. Watch live launch coverage of the Parker Solar Probe on NASA TV.
Latest updates: Parker Solar Probe blog

Tonight - 6:30 p.m. Eastern (Aug. 10): Parker Solar Probe prelaunch broadcast from NASA EDGE as the Delta-IV rocket rolls out to the launchpad.
Tonight - 7:30 p.m. Eastern (Aug. 10): Live Sunset Show from Kennedy Space Center: How Parker Solar Probe Helps NASA

Tonight - 3 a.m. Eastern (Aug. 11): Launch coverage of Parker Solar Probe. The 65-minute launch window opens at 3:33 a.m. Launching aboard a Delta IV-Heavy from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Parker Solar Probe will swoop to within 4 million miles of the sun's surface, facing heat and radiation like no spacecraft before it. It will provide new data on solar activity and make critical contributions to our ability to forecast major space-weather events that impact life on Earth.



Sunday, Aug. 12, 8 p.m.: Watch the Skies! Perseids meteor shower livestream. A live broadcast of the meteor shower from a camera in Huntsville, Alabama (weather permitting) will air live on NASA TV and on the NASA Meteor Watch Facebook page, continuing until the early hours of August 13. The Perseid meteor shower is often considered to be one of the best of the year due to its high rates and pleasant late-summer temperatures.