LJ doesn't seem to want me to embed the video, so I'll just give a link to the original site; it's worth watching full screen.
The movie there was assembled from a huge number of still photos of Saturn taken by the Cassini probe, and it's absolutely fantastic. The best part is the full-color section, which starts a little before the one minute mark. I continue to find it amazing that we live in an era when we can actually see these sights "for real" like this... and I hope that one day, we human beings will be able to see it in person.
The movie there was assembled from a huge number of still photos of Saturn taken by the Cassini probe, and it's absolutely fantastic. The best part is the full-color section, which starts a little before the one minute mark. I continue to find it amazing that we live in an era when we can actually see these sights "for real" like this... and I hope that one day, we human beings will be able to see it in person.
no subject
That said, I think you're right, but am not really sure. The time scales seem off, but I'm not confident I know what they should be.
1. From an energy budgeting viewpoint, I would expect Cassini would be moving slow relative to the Saturn system upon arrival. Excessive velocity equals spending more energy than was needed to get Cassini into this solar orbit, and a harder time inserting it into Saturn orbit. If this is accurate (and they didn't give it a swifter kick for scheduling or targeting purposes), I would expect enough time to elapse during this scene to see some motion in the Saturnian bodies.
2. If an insertion burn was needed upon arrival at Saturn (reasonable enough), what we see here is about the last thing I'd expect to see- head straight for the planet, and then fire like mad to back off???
3. The craft's spin rate relative to its apparent speed through the near-Saturn environment is so slow as to be useless for stabilization of its earth-pointed antennae, which is presumably why it would have a spin (I suppose the image sampling rate could be aliasing the spin rate, or the spin is not intentional, and is a harmless artifact of maneuvering burns). The camera and antennae must be gimballed to keep everything pointed where it needs to be.
4. None of the moons (in particular Mimas) are perceptibly rotating while in view, but perhaps because they are tidally locked with Saturn?
5. Upon closer inspection, the sun angles may not be consistent. As Cassini moves inside the rings, the sun is behind the viewer to the upper left (abut 1:30 or so). As Cassini moves back beyond the rings, the sun is now behind and to the upper right. I can't say that this is wrong, but it seems odd. It's hard to keep my bearings straight.
Oh well. Fun to test my intuitive sense of... orbital physics? against a video. Can't say as I'm sure which to believe.
The musical composition is very nice.