You need to upgrade your Flash Player The theme of this blog is not only and obviously space, but in particular “terrestrial worlds”, places that tend to have surfaces on which one could walk or at least attach oneself to. These places sometimes also have other earth-like familiar features such as atmospheres, weather, volcanos, geysers and perhaps, we are finding, even exotic oceans, rivers or lakes that are not necessarily made of familiar materials we are used to here at home. The second theme is imagery. Occasionally I do some retouching of images when needed if an image is incomplete or sometimes “dirty” or noisy. I will attempt to correct image shortcomings based upon other images or well-accepted presumed attributes. When this is done, notes will be offered as to what was added, why and sometimes how it was done. This way no one should ever wonder if something they are looking at is real or photoshop.

Archive for the 'Saturn' Category

Titan and Friends

Thursday, December 22nd, 2011

Titan and friends from recent official Cassini mission releases.

Titan and Saturn

Shown with Saturn

Titan and Dione

Shown with Dione against a Saturn and rings nearly edge-on in the background. Looks like a NASA re-interpretation of this image.

Titan and Tethys

With Tethys against more edge-on rings.

Best Color Image or Geysers on Enceladus

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Geysers on Enceladus
Brought (as always) to us from Gordan Ugarkovic.

You Are the Center of the Solar System

Friday, November 4th, 2011

You Are The Sun is the latest space themed tee by Chop Shop Store. Following on iconic tees that collected various deep space missions and historic Earth orbit missions, this new design draws a new picture of The Solar System as we know it today, complete with Carl Sagan’s pale blue dot.

With your head as a stand-in for The Sun — the tee includes all 8 planets, 7 major moons, The Asteroid Belt and even details little Pluto lost among countless Kuiper Belt objects. We are now providing yet another link here to get it for Men on American Apparel 2001 or Tultex tees and for Women on American Apparel 2102 tees.

Dione and Saturn

Thursday, September 1st, 2011

And a tiny little “ring shepherd” moon can be seen directly above/left of Dione.

Another Dark Side of Titan

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011

By Gordan Ugarkovic

Saturn Cloudtops and The Fountains of Enceladus

Sunday, July 17th, 2011

Wow. That is quite a mutual event. Saturn crescent haze about as dramatic as it is ever seen by Cassini but with the addition of an active Enceladus hanging above at such a scale is quite unreal. Color by Gordan Ugarkovic.

Saturn Portrait Rings Unlit

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

We have had our share of global Saturn portraits, but I do believe this is the first taken where the rings are unlit by the sun. An interesting alternate view provided by Gordan Ugarkovic (as usual).

Helene Offers a New Mystery

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

The tiny moon Helene seems to be experiencing some kind of erosion based on new hires images acquired by the Cassini mission in orbit around Saturn. If this is true, this would be quite a mystery considering the moon’s tiny mass and almost total lack of any gravitational ability to shape it’s own surface. Surely this must be coming from external forces such as ring particles being dumped on the surface in one area and then slowly being shaken downslope by small impacts over a very long time. Maybe?

Another color composite by Gordan Ugarkovic.

And a bonus Helene crescent image with posterization effects removed by Wanderingspace.

Enceladus Sprays the Stars

Sunday, June 12th, 2011

Enceladus in Jan 2011

Taken in January of 2011 this raw image reveals Enceladus actively spraying the heavens from its southern geysers.

A New Work of Art

Friday, June 10th, 2011

Titan, Dione and Saturn

We may have a new best of Cassini shots with this one. The color composite was executed by Ian Regan who was the creator of another Cassini favorite here at wanderingspace.

The Cassini Mission in Stark B&W

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

CASSINI MISSION from Chris Abbas on Vimeo.

Gorgeous idea — taking the raw images from the Cassini mission and making a long flip-book style movie. Leaving in the flaws and noise of raw images happens to add a nice stylistic touch to the overall feeling of the film. The nature of multiple images taken by the spacecraft often with large and small gaps in time coincidentally makes some engaging jumpy into smooth segments.

Lets Go See Iapetus Again

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

Hoping the Cassini team can find another opportunity to zip by Iapetus again before the end of the mission. Thus far, there are no plans.

Mimas Wanders Into the Frame

Monday, December 27th, 2010

The Saturnian moon Mimas wanders into the frame of this shot which was primarily observing the active geysers on Enceladus.

The Plumes of Enceladus

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

Back and front lit plumes

This is the best lit image taken of the plumes of Enceladus thus far by Cassini. The moon is lit from the front by Saturnshine and the plumes are being back-lit by the Sun directly behind. A perfect alignment for revealing active geysers on a small moon.

Sometimes Raw Images are Enough

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Raw image of Enceladus

This image is taken directly from the Cassini raw images directory. Sometimes they are perfect with no need for adjustment or correction. The best detail is the subtle haze of the geysers spewing on the right edge. Taken April 26 from 987,839 kilometers away.