[Phys-l] Cassini Approaches Saturn : APOD movie

[John Denker <jsd@av8n.com>]

I recommend today's Astronomy Picture of the Day:

  http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

> What would it look like to approach Saturn in a spaceship? One
> doesn't have to just imagine -- the Cassini spacecraft did just this
> in 2004, recording thousands of images along the way, and thousands
> more since entering orbit. Recently, some of these images have been
> digitally tweaked, cropped, and compiled into the above inspiring
> video which is part of a larger developing IMAX movie project named
> Outside In. In the last sequence, Saturn looms increasingly large on
> approach as cloudy Titan swoops below. With Saturn whirling around in
> the background, Cassini is next depicted flying over Mimas, with
> large Herschel Crater clearly visible. Saturn's majestic rings then
> take over the show as Cassini crosses Saturn's thin ring plane. Dark
> shadows of the ring appear on Saturn itself. Finally, the enigmatic
> ice-geyser moon Enceladus appears in the distance and then is
> approached just as the video clip ends.