21 April 2009

Big Picture: Cassini's Extended Mission

Posted by Ryan Anderson

The Big Picture, the Boston Globe’s photojournalism blog, does it again! This week they have a spectacular set of images of Saturn and its sattellites from the Cassini extended mission. Well worth a look. I especially liked the images showing Saturn’s upper atmosphere acting like a lens, causing the rings to apparently bend as they approach the planet. Did you know that the Earth’s atmosphere does the same thing? Sunrise and sunset happen slightly earlier and slightly later than you would expect, because the Earth’s atmosphere bends the sun’s light slightly.

So there you have it, your daily trivia. Now, follow the link and get your daily dose of spectacular space photos.