In The Shadow of Saturn
Dark rings, bright rings, bright limb of Saturn, the Pale Blue Dot — a planetary spectacular.
– rakkity
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
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Dark rings, bright rings, bright limb of Saturn, the Pale Blue Dot — a planetary spectacular.
– rakkity
RSS feed for comments on this post.
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That’s so cool it hardly seems real! And to know it’s an actual photograph (however enhanced), not some artist’s rendering, is most impressive. But to imagine onesself riding that vehicle and seeing home so far away tugs mightily at the heartstrings — future interplanetary travelers (if any) will have to be iron-willed indeed …
Comment by el kib — January 13, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
Arthur C Clarke imagined the best place for a space hotel would be in orbit around Saturn. Staying at such a place in a suitable equatorial orbit, you’d see this over and over again. Could one eventually become bored having this view? But you’d also have occasional looks at the fountains of Enceladus, and the smoky canyons of Titan to relieve your boredom. And a big telescope in the hotel lobby could provide earth views for the homesick.
Comment by rakkity — January 13, 2009 @ 7:10 pm
I’m finding it truly difficult to wrap my brain (not as flexible as it once was) around what I am seeing here. A full solar eclipse from Saturn??? Incredible.
Also incredible to learn that there are one octillion Prochlorococcus in earth’s oceans. And moreover that Prochlorococcus absord as much CO2 and exhale O2 as do all earth’s forests. And that one Octillion is a Trillion Trillion (10**24).
Thanks Rakkity for the astronomic continuing education.
Comment by smiling dan — January 24, 2009 @ 10:31 am
And thanks to you Dan, for the truly astronomical number!
We don’t hear the word Octillion very much (except perhaps in reference to Credit Default Swaps?)
For years I’ve been trying to get a straight answer about whether ocean organisms are as, less, or more important than trees for absorbing CO2. From what you’re reporting, they’re about equal. Years ago, I heard that the ocean O2 producers were more important, and in more recent years less important. The error bars on the estimates may be larger than most biologists admit, though I think within the margin of uncertainty, you’re right that those octillion ocean critters are as important as trees in making O2 and eating CO2.
Comment by rakkity — January 25, 2009 @ 3:01 pm