Fwd: Cassini will take Earth photo from deep space

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: June 21, 2013 8:06:59 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Cassini will take Earth photo from deep space

 

 

 

      

Jun. 20, 2013 7:28 PM  

Cassini will take Earth photo from deep space

NASA wants a wave from us when picture is taken from Saturn

Highlights of Cassini's mission: This video highlights sights and sounds from the journey of NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Cassini launched 15 years ago and has been exploring the Saturn system since 2004. NASA video

Written by

Mara D. Bellaby

FLORIDA TODAY

Zoom

Apollo 8's crew took NASA's first deep-space photo of Earth. / NASA

Share Your Wave photos

NASA wants you to take a photo of your July 19 wave at Saturn and share them with the Flickr group Wave at Saturn, or by adding the photos to the Wave at Saturn Facebook page or tagging pictures on Twitter #waveatsaturn. If the space agency gets enough photos, they'll make a special collage.

NASA wants you to wave at Saturn on July 19.

The space agency plans to take an interplanetary photo and wants you looking attentive when its photographer snaps the image from 898 million miles away.

Between 5:27 p.m. and 5:42 p.m. July 19, NASA plans to train the Cassini spacecraft's highest-resolution camera toward Earth. Cassini, which launched from Cape Canaveral in 1997, is currently exploring Saturn.

Earth will appear as a small, pale blue dot between the rings of Saturn — so don't expect to see yourself. But the space agency still wanted Earthlings to have some fun with the photo shoot since deep space photos of home are rare. This is only NASA's third.

"While Earth will be only about a pixel in size from Cassini's vantage point ... the team is looking forward to giving the world a chance to see what their home looks like from Saturn," Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif, said in a statement.

The principal scientific goal of the effort is to study Saturn's rings since the planet will be backlit by the sun. Getting Earth, too, in the mosaic is a nice bonus.

NASA has a long history of providing space-based images of Earth, such as the 1968 "Earthrise" photograph taken by the Apollo 8 moon mission from about 240,000 miles away.

But taking photos of Earth from the outer solar system is more challenging because the sun can blind the spacecraft's cameras. The July 19 photo opp is possible because Cassini will be in Saturn's shadow.

The only other deep space home portraits: the 1990 "Pale Blue Dot" image taken by Voyager 1 from 4 billion miles away, and another shot by Cassini in 2006 from 926 million miles away.

Contact Bellaby at 321-242-3573
or mbellaby@floridatoday.com.

 

Copyright © 2013 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved. 

 

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AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
June 21st, 2013

Cassini to Get Second Chance at Historic Image

By Christopher Paul

The Cassini probe at Saturn took this image in 2006. Scientist hope to take a similar image in July. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

NASA's Cassini probe to Saturn is preparing itself to take a follow-up to the historic image it took in 2006.

The famous image, taken as the Cassini probe passed into Saturn's shadow on September 15, 2006. Scientists intended just to use the opportunity to capture an image of Saturn's rings backlit by the Sun, but a pale blue dot showing up in between the rings surprised everyone. Cassini had accidentally caught an image of Earth.

The only image of Earth taken from deep space was taken by Voyager I in 1990.

The leader of the Cassini imaging team, Carolyn Porco, has wanted to try to repeat this shot since it became one of the mission's most famous images. She and her team carefully examined the probe's future positions, looking for another opportunity to capture Earth and Saturn. The best date they found was July 19 of this year.

This image will be an improvement over the 2006 image because it will be taken by Cassini's highest resolution camera, and in approximate natural color.

This special photo shoot is not just a publicity stunt, though NASA has tried to make the public aware of the event with its Wave at Saturn campaign. Cassini will also collect valuable data about the fine structures in Saturn's E ring, which are shaped by the geysers of Enceladus, as well as by Saturn's own magnetic field and radiation pressure from the Sun. Cassini will also gather infrared data about the Saturn system.

Cassini will begin taking images to assemble the panorama at 21:27 UTC and finish about 15 minutes later. During this time, the spacecraft will be in Saturn's shadow, allowing it to point its cameras towards the Inner Solar System without risking damage from the too-bright Sunlight.

NASA and JPL have produced an image, using a simulator, that very roughly approximates what the final image will look like.

This is an approximation, produced by NASA and JPL, of how the July 19 image will look. Image Credit: NASA/JPL

 

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