Something for your Astronomy Buffs
 

Or YOU astronomy buffs I should say. Enjoy!

Detail photos of Saturn and its various moons and features.

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This image was taken by Cassini as it moved above the dark side of the planet. As very little light makes its way through the rings, they appear somewhat dark compared with the reflective surface of Saturn. This view combines 45 images taken over the course of about two hours

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Pan, a 17-mile-wide moon coasts into view from behind Saturn (the small white dot within the black horizontal strip in the centre of the image). This photograph was captured from a distance of 1.1million miles away

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Rhea, another moon, drifts in front of Saturn. The image was taken at a distance of approximately 358,000 miles away

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The Cassini spacecraft looks through Saturn's translucent inner C ring to capture its yellow-blue atmosphere

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One of Saturn's moons, Rhea, passes in front of the planet's largest moon, Titan (lit from behind by the Sun). The Cassini mission found Titan to have parallels with Earth.


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This composite of two images shows Pan, left, and Prometheus, right, in nearby rings. Pan is trailed by a series of edge waves in the outer boundary of the gap. Prometheus just touches the inner edge of Saturn's F ring, and is followed by a series of dark channels

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This image was taken during Cassini's close approach to the moon Iapetus. It was taken with a wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 2,400 miles

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Cassini tracks the moon Prometheus as it orbits Saturn. Prometheus is just about to pass behind the planet, and a faint streamer of ring material lies below and to the right of it, in the faint, inner strand of the F ring

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Saturn's high north is a seething cauldron of rolling cloud bands and swirling vortices. This image was taken at a distance of approximately 336,000 miles

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Small, battered Epimetheus before Saturn's A and F rings, and and smog-enshrouded Titan beyond. The colours here are artificial in order to approximate the scene as it might appear to human eyes

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This bizarre scene shows the cloud-streaked area of Saturn in front of the planet's B ring. The ring's image is warped by the diffuse gas in Saturn's upper atmosphere

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This image shows Saturn's rings and the shadow of nearby Mimas. They are now nearly edge-on toward the Sun, and long moon shadows drape across them. Scientists are now studying the clumpy, disturbed ring material, stretching up to two miles above the ring plane - contrasted with an estimated normal ring thickness of only six feet

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This image shows Saturn through the thick smoggy haze of the upper atmosphere from its largest moon, Titan

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The shadow of Tethys drifts across the face of Saturn. Nearby, shadows of the planet's rings form a darkened band above the equator

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Saturn's northern hemisphere is seen here against its nested rings. The rings have been brightened relative to the planet to enhance visibility

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Stars provide a serene background in this view of Enceladus while it was in eclipse, with Saturn's shadow moving over it. The view shows the moon's south pole

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In this image of Saturn's F ring, taken shortly after its ring particles encountered the shepherd moon Prometheus, the disruption to the ring caused by the moon is evident. The bright core of the ring and its neighbouring faint strands show kinks where the moon's gravity has altered the orbits of the ring particles


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Cassini looks toward Rhea's cratered, icy landscape with the dark line of Saturn's ringplane and the planet's murky atmosphere as a background. Rhea is Saturn's second-largest moon

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The spacecraft Cassini looks through the fine, smoke-sized ice particles of Saturn's F ring toward the cratered face of Mimas

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Mimas appears to hover above the colourful rings. The large crater seen on the right side of the moon is named after William Herschel, who discovered Mimas in 1789

Stunning!

Great pictures of the most majestic of the planets

Awesome pics.

These pictures look unreal :thumbup:

Thanks for the description on each -- they wouldn't have quite the same impact if one didn't know what they are.

Great Pics, LabGuy!
Did you ever cop that telescope we were discussing a yearish ago?
My "need" for on cooled, along with my RetiredBum portfolio...

Now that we are back at the Mtn House at 5,000 ft, with crystal
clear skies and minimal night sky light pollution, I wish I had one.
BR,mD

start with Binoculars depending on what you want to look at if planets something like 25x100 with a stable mount.:thumbup: looking at £300 over here but you will no doubt get cheaper over there.

Allan.

Thanks, Fi...I have two pairs of binocs. We mount them on one of our
camera tripods. I am really Jonesing for one of these, but not in the
budget, even on the horizon.
BR,mD

Telescopes / Celestron.com - Telescope | Computerized Telescopes | Microscopes | Binoculars | SkyScout

Yeah...I'm ready for the Summer sky if not short a few bucks.

If you want I'll give you an old 4.5" Newtonian reflector telescope. I'll pack it up and find the cheapest shipping to your Mountain retreat. It's nothing fancy (really) but it works. I'll need to dig around for the extras but it does have what you need to get started. The mount is attached but you will need to construct 3 wood legs...Easy to make with a few tools if you're handy. I used a nice camera tripod to mount the scope and tossed the wood legs that came with the scope. I'm now using that tripod for photography.

PM me if you're interested.

Thx for the great pix!
I have a Tasco unit and no idea how to use it. I would love some of the above pix to hang around the house. Very peaceful...:thumbup: