Well, I've finally gotten a chance to breathe! Been exceedingly busy the past couple of days, as you might expect, but I figured ya'll might be interested in hearing about some of the things I've seen and heard. Plus, I like to talk.

So, where to start... I guess the first thing is just a comment to all the people who claim scientists won't listen to or believe things that don't fit their expectations. All you need to do is sit down and watch a group of scientists pouring over new data. I can't count the number of times today that I heard someone say:

"But it has to be there!"
"No, no, no, where is that coming from?"
"There's nothing that would cause that structure!"
"I don't believe it, are you sure that is what we're seeing?"
"Our models show there shouldn't be anything there!"

followed shortly thereafter by:

"Hmm, maybe it really isn't there. Ok then, what are the reasons it wouldn't be..."
"What about this source? We never considered that before!"
"If we see that, and the other team sees this, maybe this other interaction is happening."
"Wait, maybe it works like this. What happens when you add..."
"Hmm... well, I guess that model doesn't work. Try a new run with these parameters..."

Everyone was more excited about the strange results than they were about the things that had been predicted. It's what we're all here for.

As to actual results, there are so many, I'm not even sure where to start. I haven't had time to read any of the press releases, or look over the public pictures (but I did watch the ISS people analyze some of the rings and Titan data as it came down, which was fun), so I don't know what has already been said. I guess I'll just summarize a few things, and if you want to hear more, post and I'll try to fill it in (don't expect immediate answers though).

There were a number of odd radio emissions from up close to Saturn, including a possible whistlers and aurora. The RPWS also got a recording of the dust impacts during the ring crossings, which might be able to give a decent particle density and ring height at the location of the crossing.

The RSS occultation data from the SOI burn was turned into information about ring radio-depth. If you remember the doppler shift plot from the live press-conference, it was more than just telling about the progress of the burn. There is some good science coming from it as well!

The particles instruments (that includes us!) have seen some ions above the ring plane, including oxygen and O2+, which was unexpected. But at least three instruments are seeing it... We also all measured a lot of ionizing radiation just after the descending ring plane crossing. Looks like the rings do a good job of sweeping up radiation! On the other hand, it looks like some kind of energetic plasma wake around Titan was observed.

VIMS has images of surface features on Titan as well as at least one large cloud and surface minerals/organics. They also have gotten composition data about the rings, and it looks like there is an ice gradient from the inside to the outside. This gradient was confirmed by UVIS, which also has some interesting results about the UV depth of the rings -- it doesn't necessarily match the optical depth.

And of course, everyone has seen the ISS images of the rings. Some of the observed structures were completely unexpected. It also looks like Prometheus might dip into the F ring occasionally.

Keep in mind that everything here is very preliminary, but the project scientists are already getting some new and amazing science results from just this short time period. There are going to be a lot of papers and a lot of happy scientists from this, and it was just the first few days!

Now, where is the sleepy-smiley face.

cheers all, and good night!

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"What do you care what other people think?" -- Richard Feynman
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Feynman, at the conclusion of his Challenger report

Thanks, parejkoj!

Lots of information to digest, even among us amateurs! Are all your INMS instruments working OK? After all those mini-micro-meteor impacts, it's amazing that things continue to work so well. Thank you, high-gain antenna!

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It's things like this that motivate me to get into science.
=D>

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"I'm making wheatloaf. It's like meatloaf, only with wheat"
"Isn't that just...bread?"

I remember when the first results came back from Voyager flying past Uranus. The scientists were practically dancing in the aisles at JPL chanting, "Everything we know is wrong! Everything we know is wrong!" I can't imagine people in any other profession having that kind of reaction.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

=D> Really! Even the weather man can't say that.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.

Thanks, Parejkoj! I hope you will keep sharing what happens.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board! Author: duh.

"The Sun, with all the planets revolving around it, and depending on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else in the universe to do..." Author: Galileo supposedly.

Thanks, Parejkoj. You´re very kind sharing interesting info with us.

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If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

Cassini emerges from solar conjunction

...with new photos of the moons.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

So, who gets the job of airbrushing the alien spaceships out of the images?

I think it's Milton's turn.

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"I'm making wheatloaf. It's like meatloaf, only with wheat"
"Isn't that just...bread?"

Hey, some of us are already getting paid good money to do that.

In other news, I haven't seen any other big news yet beyond the usual releases. I had a few things, but it's been so busy, they ended up in press-releases before I could put them here. Things are ramping up for the first close Titan pass, refered to as TA (since it is in the 'A' orbit). Well, they've been getting ready for a couple years, but there are now conferences in planning and such. That would be October 26, if I remember correctly.

It's gonna be a good one. And the atmosphere is thick enough that we don't have to work nearly so hard when removing those machined engine parts and mountain-sized faces from the images.



My only worry is that one of the flying Titanians (is that what we're calling them? I'll have to check with the black-ops folks, when they get back from their helicopter ride) will put its finger into our instrument aperture. Those filthy aliens are always getting in the way!

__________________
"What do you care what other people think?" -- Richard Feynman
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Feynman, at the conclusion of his Challenger report

Careful, parejkoj, lest you be labeled a Whistle Blower and wind up seeing yourself (highly pixelated and through a Darth Vader voice processor) on a Fox show. :wink:

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Do try not to take me too seriously.