Twenty years ago today and a billion miles from here, the Cassini spacecraft came to the end of its 7-year interplanetary journey and flawlessly glided into orbit around the planet Saturn. It was a splendid arrival!
I was a big fan of Karl Sagan, and more so of yours. His theories inspired many such as you to venture on to great things, and wonderous explorations. I sent you both fan letters, and no one since. My astrology tells me that my 'something or other' is in the house of Saturn. Science tells me it's a fascinating place to study, moons and all. All the best in any future ventures. I know they will be exciting.
Thanks - I've been a fan of yours since Cassini, but I only just found out about your very interesting site! And my good friend Nick Howes never stops singing your praises as well.
Regarding the 1966 Triple Ring Plane crossing, what I remember most was being able to see the unilluminated side of the rings quite distinctly, on 15 May, 18 May, 20 May, 30 May and 1 June.
Conjunction had been on 10 March, so it was still quite close to the Sun at the time of first observation.
I could never see the whole of the rings - just the inner part, probably because some of the illumination of the dark side was simply reflected Saturn light, which would obviously be brighter closer in. And sometimes one ansa was distinctly visible for a greater length than the other.
Also, as the ring plane approached passage through the Sun on June 15.8, the visible length of the dark side ansae gradually decreased. On the first view, on 15 May, I could see the ansae out to almost one Saturn radius, but on my last view on 1 June, they were just little stubs, about 1/5 radius long.
My next observation, on 26 June, when Sun and Earth were once again on the same side of the rings, I could see the full length of the rings, but as an incredibly thin fine line - a beautiful sight! I would really have loved to see what was visible on the date of the actual ring plane passage though the Sun, but unfortunately, no clear sky at that time.
BTW, I was observing from Armagh in Northern Ireland, which explains the paucity of observations - we just didn't have enough clear nights! And it was only visible in the wee small hours - my observation times for those dates are listed as: 03.55 - 04.10; 03.10 - 03.50; 03.05 - 03.50; 02.55 - 03.15; 02.35 - 03.40; and 02.00 - 02.30.
But it was well worth the sleep disruption!
And unfortunately the next ring plane crossing on March 23 occurs too soon after conjunction on March 12 to observe at all!
I've just tried to observe the lunar occultation of Saturn earlier this evening - but totally defeated by cloud!
Thanks again for all your great research, and your superb outreach.
Thank you! I just corrected it. It could be the caption was written for a presentation of the image that differs by what is shown by 90 deg. But that error goes back 20years I see, and I didn't catch it! Thanks for finding it.
I still remember it when Saturn orbit was achieved. Cassini was a phenomenal investment!
Now we need to conquer Titan and Enceladus. Looking forward to Dragonfly and hopefully an Enceladus lander that can take samples near a vent and determine if bacteria do exist there after all.
Two space missions mark pivotal moments in my 70 years on our lovely little pale blue dot.
The first was on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon to say, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." I was 16 years old, watching in real time on our family's clunky analog console TV. The images were fuzzy but the significance was clear. Humankind had taken a baby step into the cosmos.
The second was on July 1, 2004, when Carolyn added her insights about the Cassini mission in a press briefing at JPL in Pasadena CA. Humankind is still making tentative baby steps into the cosmos. Each step forward feels more surefooted. One step at a time.
Very interesting. And how exciting for you and the whole team! Just the tip of the iceberg of what you would discover and learn on this great adventure. I want to thank you for sharing this with the all of us armchair astronomers.
Hi Carolyn, Andrew here from Cambridge UK frmrly. Redlands CA, so nice to hear and to see you after following you on ciclops.org forever it seems. Thanks for the memories too. A.
I was a big fan of Karl Sagan, and more so of yours. His theories inspired many such as you to venture on to great things, and wonderous explorations. I sent you both fan letters, and no one since. My astrology tells me that my 'something or other' is in the house of Saturn. Science tells me it's a fascinating place to study, moons and all. All the best in any future ventures. I know they will be exciting.
Hi Carolyn,
Thanks - I've been a fan of yours since Cassini, but I only just found out about your very interesting site! And my good friend Nick Howes never stops singing your praises as well.
Regarding the 1966 Triple Ring Plane crossing, what I remember most was being able to see the unilluminated side of the rings quite distinctly, on 15 May, 18 May, 20 May, 30 May and 1 June.
Conjunction had been on 10 March, so it was still quite close to the Sun at the time of first observation.
I could never see the whole of the rings - just the inner part, probably because some of the illumination of the dark side was simply reflected Saturn light, which would obviously be brighter closer in. And sometimes one ansa was distinctly visible for a greater length than the other.
Also, as the ring plane approached passage through the Sun on June 15.8, the visible length of the dark side ansae gradually decreased. On the first view, on 15 May, I could see the ansae out to almost one Saturn radius, but on my last view on 1 June, they were just little stubs, about 1/5 radius long.
My next observation, on 26 June, when Sun and Earth were once again on the same side of the rings, I could see the full length of the rings, but as an incredibly thin fine line - a beautiful sight! I would really have loved to see what was visible on the date of the actual ring plane passage though the Sun, but unfortunately, no clear sky at that time.
BTW, I was observing from Armagh in Northern Ireland, which explains the paucity of observations - we just didn't have enough clear nights! And it was only visible in the wee small hours - my observation times for those dates are listed as: 03.55 - 04.10; 03.10 - 03.50; 03.05 - 03.50; 02.55 - 03.15; 02.35 - 03.40; and 02.00 - 02.30.
But it was well worth the sleep disruption!
And unfortunately the next ring plane crossing on March 23 occurs too soon after conjunction on March 12 to observe at all!
I've just tried to observe the lunar occultation of Saturn earlier this evening - but totally defeated by cloud!
Thanks again for all your great research, and your superb outreach.
Terry
Fascinating story. But in the photo of the crater Malun, the solar illumination is coming from the right, not from below.
Thank you! I just corrected it. It could be the caption was written for a presentation of the image that differs by what is shown by 90 deg. But that error goes back 20years I see, and I didn't catch it! Thanks for finding it.
I still remember it when Saturn orbit was achieved. Cassini was a phenomenal investment!
Now we need to conquer Titan and Enceladus. Looking forward to Dragonfly and hopefully an Enceladus lander that can take samples near a vent and determine if bacteria do exist there after all.
Two space missions mark pivotal moments in my 70 years on our lovely little pale blue dot.
The first was on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon to say, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." I was 16 years old, watching in real time on our family's clunky analog console TV. The images were fuzzy but the significance was clear. Humankind had taken a baby step into the cosmos.
The second was on July 1, 2004, when Carolyn added her insights about the Cassini mission in a press briefing at JPL in Pasadena CA. Humankind is still making tentative baby steps into the cosmos. Each step forward feels more surefooted. One step at a time.
Very interesting. And how exciting for you and the whole team! Just the tip of the iceberg of what you would discover and learn on this great adventure. I want to thank you for sharing this with the all of us armchair astronomers.
Hi Carolyn, Andrew here from Cambridge UK frmrly. Redlands CA, so nice to hear and to see you after following you on ciclops.org forever it seems. Thanks for the memories too. A.
You're welcome, Andrew! Yes, I remember you. It's a sentimental day, isn't it?