Words. Fail. Me.

In Saturn's Shadow

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

The "star" left from Saturn isn't a moon.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

You mean that pale blue dot?

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0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 ...

Yeah. Cozy, isn't it?

__________________
Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

far left?

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

You can't miss it. It is the brightest star-like object in the photo, between the F and G rings... F ring is at the edge of main rings and G ring is the dim ring next to it.

The outermost diffuse ring is E ring generated by Enceladus' geysirs; the moon itself is the faint smudge inside the leftmost part of the ring.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

A close-up is here.

Enceladus and its plume are dramatic in this high resolution photo.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

Money shot, that probe just paid for itself.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

Mars should also be in this shot. Is that it in the bottom right corner of the high contrast version?

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Forming opinions as we speak

That's really pretty. Might have to hang some new wallpaper on my computer.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

I have a feeling that this photo will go down in history. It's simply amazing.

- Maha "ring of cool" Vailo

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When you get down to it, Science answers how. Religion answers why. - hippietrekx

The Warp Point, my new geek culture blog.

Seems to be in the right plane at the right distance so I don't see why not.

The effect caused by the atmosphere is amazing.

Somewhere on A Site That Shan't Be Named, people must have already drawn the "Photoshopped" joker card.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

amazing, just amazing!
thanks for posting Kullat Nunu

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clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

Well, in the version that hasn't been contrast enhanced, you can't see stars. That is often a starting point for people on 'those' sites. I haven't seen the full details on how they made this image, but I suspect that they did shop it a bit to clean out artifacts.

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Forming opinions as we speak

Saturn glows by internal heat.

But, but, but...Photoshop and the like are only used to fake things and show what was hidden by the government, not just to enhance images, that ain't possible!



Seriously though, it's more than a bit probable they did quite some effort in enhancing the contrast, removing noise, etc, but I'm sure that the people doing this are professional enough to do only things that make the result look better and stick reasonably well to reality. I don't know how much the colours are off, but I suppose they have some reference they don't want to get away from too much.

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

The original images were not that good--you can still see internal reflections in the enhanced image and the part of the rings closest to the sun is slightly overexposed.

If fixing space images is faking, then for example all Hubble images would be fakes. Raw HST images are full of various scratches from cosmic rays. Removing defects from an image actually make them more realistic.

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Science is a way of trying not to fool yourself. The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.
-- Richard Feynman

In Soviet Russia, images photoshop you!

Amazing shot. Yeah, Cassini definitely paid for itself.

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And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

A good year ago, we had a debate in which someone took the (devil's advocate) position "is Cassini justified, it's a very expensive postcard machine". He would have had a strong argument with this one . Not a strong case, but a strong argument.

Yes Cassini is a very expensive postcard machine. And a very good one. And luckily it does far more than making these pictures portretting the peaceful, sexy atmosphere of a typical Saturnian morning

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I just downloaded the not colour-enhanced version as a desktop wallpaper. I assume the fact that it's not colour enhanced makes it the most realistic depiction of the scene? Though the colour enhanced one is also very impressive, but maybe a bit less stylish. And less realistic .

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To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.