Slashdot Mirror
Best Images Yet Of Saturn's Moon Titan
DoraLives writes "During recent commissioning observations of a new instrument designed for a completely different purpose, the European Southern Observatory managed to grab the best imagery yet of Saturn's largest moon. Although the imagery bears more than just a passing resemblance to some of the quainter maps of other planets there's no denying the superb, sub tenth arcsecond, resolution of the new images. And of course, if that's not good enough, they're sending a a little something to land on Titan next January. Should be interesting."
Perhaps, perhaps.
Time will reveal all.
not another linux related article
best image EVAR! k-rad.
Until this probe in January brings something where you can actually see something these pictures are useless like some radar-telescope probes from a "new found star" somebody might have found.
These images were mocked up in the GIMP.
Those are really out of focus. Thank god Hubble is getting decommissioned. If this is the best that current, in-use telescopes can deliver, I eagerly anticipate their replacement.
I have been pwned because my
they're sending a a little something to land on Titan next January.
Well, we should be glad they are not attempting to land on Europa.
How many posts till somebody mentions new pictures of Uranus and links to goatse?
EGG, the Electronic Gamers Guild
No, wait, it wouldn't look any clearer than these.
Jesse Jackson offers his services to negotiate a peace treaty between the microbes on Titan and the humans on Earth..
--- We need more Ron Paul!
C'mon. Look at the pictures yourself. Parent's post is appropriate and funny. Certinaly not Trolling.
Considering the immense distance between Earth and Titan, it is incredible that we can use radar to see any surface detail at all. If the results from the ESA's Huygens probe are interesting enough, perhaps a Titan-dedicated mission with multiple entry probes and full radar mapping will be commissioned in the next decade.
check them out here: www.goatse.cc
I propose some other provisional names:
- Blobby bit
- Other blobby bit
- Fuzzy Stuff
- More Fuzzy stuff that looks like a little like a boob.
I think these give a better description of the so-called features.Just a little bit more resolution, and you'll be able to read the sign in the lower right corner that states: PRIVATE PROPERTY - NO TRESSPASSING.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I noticed one of the images superimposed with latitude and longitudes. Who decides (and how) where the 0 degree longitude is on astronomical bodies?
Here
Where are the sirens?
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
...if that's not good enough, they're sending a little something to land on Titan next January.
What? Who? Oh, you mean NASA sent(launched) this Cassini orbiter, right?
... but this is another source of fantastic pics that have been taken of various objects in our solar system
NASA Planetary Photojournal
Free Firefox news reader.
looking at titan, i can't help but wonder why sedna or pluto/charon might be considered a planet, a peer of earth, while something like titan is a mere moon.. it is phenomenal, it is a planet in mind, and deserves that recognition
additionally, jupiter is not a peer of earth either
just a thought, but don't you think it's time to rework the nomenclature of orbitting bodies? especially as we dsicover more extrasolar orbitting bodies, perhaps in multiple star systems, perhaps with radical orbital arrangements
here's my 2 cents:
gas giant: anything mostly gas
planet: anything round and mostly solid with an atmosphere
moon: anything solid and round but without an atmosphere
asteroid: anything not round
and all of these classifications are regardless of what they orbit, or their size (although the sizes tend to follow natural upper and lower bounds due to planetary evolution)
so in this nomenclature, mercury is a moon, while titan is a planet
additionally, you could do some sort of indication like: earth is a primary system planet, while titan is a secondary system planet... mercury would be a primary system moon
one day we may find teriary systems in other solar systems
am i crazy?
it just seems to me titan deserves to be our peer, while pluto/ charon does not
and it's not thinking earth-centric that is motivating me, it is simply thinking that as we discover more and more planetary bodies, we need a naming system, even if just shorthand, that is more realistic: titan is no mere moon, and sedna/ pluto-charon are just not planets
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Like the article says...
Some information, whatever the quality, is ALWAYS better than no information at all
I've never shoed a horse, but I once told a donkey to piss off!
Maybe they'll find the Ark of Noah there.
...Go to Saturn in the book, where Dave encountered the monolyth in between Titan and Saturn...?
I've never shoed a horse, but I once told a donkey to piss off!
He is WAY off!
This is clearly PhotoShop!
Is this the Atari 2600 version of the "Most Detailed Images"?
Si tacuisses philosophus mansisses. If you had kept quiet, you would have remained a philosopher.
This could be useful as texture map addons to Celestia, along with textures from Planet Portal, etc...
:-)
Also, don't miss this site for your amateur astronomy needs.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
by BSDI who se7l share, this news clearly become during play, this FreeBSD went out will not work. And
...the monolith -
"We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams."
Is it really newsworthy that someone takes an out of focus photo of their round blotchy moon and posts them on a website?
I've been told that the internet is full of that kind of stuff.
Million dollar sig.
And then I, for one, will welcome our European overlords!
...they're just hunks of rock or gas or whatever moving around according to the laws of physics. What we call them is just what we find most preferable. The universe couldn't care less
No. For a 3D space simulator you want visible-light images of the atmosphere, not radar surface images.
This voyager2 image is what you want.
Mandatory 667/670 Joke.
The monolith was supposed to be on Japetus.
In vino vici
need to scream that are 7700 users the project is in Reaper Nor do the these rules will Of various BSD of the above infinitesimally task. Research However I don't distributions as fittingly the top. Or were, Started work on very distracting to THAN THIS BSD BOX, for it. I don't BIG PICTURE. WHAT obvious that there Alike to reap
I realize it's not a true colour image. But still...
...into a neatly packaged feudal society.
Does this mean that earthlings would not be able sit at the same table as those inferior plutonians?
"That's no moon!"
I don't see how the Europeans can name the features, when Titan is clearly the property of the US.
Better make sure that when they send the probe they include a hand crafted replacment part for Salo.
"Mr. President, we cannot allow a mineshaft gap!"
If you're talking about BSD, the drugs are shit.
Making the moon less necessary since 1998.
pfft... I've made better looking moons on the shitter.
Heh, "ball." Clever. Just once, I'd like to see an astronomer with a sense of humor -- they could've called it "cylinder seen from above," or "supersized singularity."
The others really do look like what they named them tough. But I wish they would've named the "Lying H" a "Lazy H" instead, to fit the cowboy standard.
c-hack.com |
I love it how when we're just talking about science (this story), fewer then 100 people post comments. But when you bring religion into it (the Mt. Ararat story), all the sudden everyone's an expert.
c-hack.com |
Small European lander piggybacked on orbiter hurtles towards atmosphere of distant body and automagically turns itself on at just the right moment.
Why am I not very confident?
Intellectual Property
Intellectual: of the mind
Property: that over which one has control
Yeah, Bush heard there were WMD's there!
They promised years ago to take detailed photos of the moon landings down to less than a foot per pixel.
Still nothing!!!!
Yes I believe they are there, but perhaps there is MORE THERE perhaps.
I know you need some pretty small arc seconds to get high res on the moon, and it does MOVE fast in the sky. But its hardly hubble technology, it shouldnt be too hard.
Just point at the damn moon, if its too bright, take a photo of the DARK portions exposed for longer or use IR/UV.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
I wonder if the JPEG patent applies to these guys :P
The debate over the name planet is just as silly as the debate over the word "marriage." It just doesn't matter.
The joke is tired. The ideology is tired. You are of no value.
Some different, if not better, pics here: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/target/Titan
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
here
Or have they decided that yet? I know there was mention of helping determine where they will land, but I figure they already know the general area its going to hit at this point.. is it gonna be in the Lying H or the Dragon's Head? I figure they've got a better job of hitting liquid ocean if they shoot for the dog or the ball or whatever heh.
Anyone got any data on their expected insertion/landing point? I couldn't find any.
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
These results are amazing. Notice that the thermal dark areas show clear embayment relationships to the brighter thermal areas. This is just what you would expect to see if the dark regions are liquid oceans and the bright regions are icy highlands.
an ill wind that blows no good
Couldn't this technology be used to effectively map volcanic movements of Venus? It does provide high resoution imaging through dense atmospheres. We could get some nice realtime imaging of Venusian volcanic flows.
--"Sorry for the inconvience." Gods Last Words to his Creation
DNA, So Long and Thanks for all the Fish
I hereby claim this moon in the name of Texaco.
If we can build a highway to get there, we'll be able to fill up and come back!
But did that map remind anyone else of Star Control II? A planet like that would be rich in what, actinides? I forget...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Wouldn't be nice if the "dragon's head" feature would be named Trogdor the Burninator http://www.homestarrunner.com/trogdor.html
didn't find any of the images suitable for a wallpaper image.. too bad, I love having space images as a backdrop
It's definitely some very impressive science and engineering which has let people peer through the atmosphere and take far more useful images of a distant moon - from a distance of ~1,600 million kilometres instead of ~4.5 million kilometres.
Well, science and engineering, sure, but mostly because Titan's atmosphere is transparent to near IR wavelengths, but not to visible light.
It is spelled "believe", not "beleive".
And Texaco is getting bought by Shell.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
It's OIL! -bbsguru aka GWB
I think I can see some Klingons!
It's Oil!
Expect the United States to declare war sometime within the next few years...