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Cassini Alters Path. Phoebe Now In Sight!

Posted by timothy on from the different-phoebe dept.

Anonymous Explorer writes "This week the Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft finally entered the Saturn system and made its first main-engine burn in five years in preparation of for the Phoebe flyby. This long journey has been one filled with much promise and peril. Launched in 1997, Cassini is expected to have a rendezvous with the moon Phoebe on June 11. For those of us who are lazy, that's just a tad under two weeks away. After the Phoebe flyby, it's on to the ringed planet, with an anticipated July 1 ground orbit insertion. The ESA's Huygens probe will descend into the atmosphere of Titan a few months after Cassini is inserted into orbit. This mission promises to be one that brings a very psychedelic and beautiful area of our solar system into clearer focus. This multinational mission is one the most ambitious scientific explorations yet undertaken and promises some truly otherworldly images in the near future. With 31 moons/natural satellites thus far discovered orbiting Saturn, there should be a lot to keep us occupied. Anyone else excited about the journey to a ringed world? Lets all enjoy this ride. It promises to be a unique one as much as for the scenery as for the science. Informal discussion regarding the Cassini-Huygens mission can be found at #cassini on irc.freenode.net."

20 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Whoooaaa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    a very psychedelic and beautiful area of our solar system into clearer focus

    Heeeey man.. ::puff:: You don't need no stinkin' satellite.. ::puff:: in order to see psychedelic spaaace, maaaan! ::puff::

  2. Little Pink Men by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    We all know NASA is going to find little green, maybe pink in Saturn's case, men floating around somewhere and just photoshop them out of the pictures.

  3. I'll be sure to tell my cat (Phoebe). . . by kfg · · Score: 4, Funny

    to keep her head down 'round about the 11th.

    She gets a little freaked when things flyby without warning (although I've rather been looking forward to it myself).

    I'm still trying to figure out though, why I, as the more massive of the pair, appear without question to be the captured object.

    KFG

  4. Phoebe flyby by DrMrLordX · · Score: 3, Funny

    I predict they'll get some footage like this.

  5. Well... by ErichTheWebGuy · · Score: 4, Funny

    This mission promises to be one that brings a very psychedelic

    Guess the mission engineers took the brown acid. Bummer.

    --
    bash: rtfm: command not found
    1. Re:Well... by kfg · · Score: 5, Funny

      Guess the mission engineers took the brown acid.

      "Gimme an Ph!"

      And it's one, two, three, what's this Cassini for?
      Don't ask me I don't really care,
      I suppose just 'cause Titan's there

      And it's five, six, seven, open up the pod bay doors.
      There ain't no time to wonder why,
      Whoopee! It's a Phoebe flyby.

      KFG

  6. water on earth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    And though there is no liquid water, what water does on Earth, methane does on Titan.
    Do the Saturnians drink eight glasses of methane a day?
    1. Re:water on earth by anothy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Their doctors tell them to, yeah, but just like on earth, nobody actually does.

      --

      i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
  7. lazy people first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cassini is expected to have a rendezvous with the moon Phoebe on June 11. For those of us who are lazy, that's just a tad under two weeks away.

    Does this mean that those of us who are not lazy have to wait a few more weeks before we can learn about Phoebe's observations?

  8. Odyssey 2004 by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Phoebe best image so far, from Voyager2 in 1981

    "My God! It's full of pixels!"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  9. Re:I prefer.... by KevinKnSC · · Score: 3, Funny

    I know you're just going for a lame joke, but for the record, Uranus does have rings.

  10. Phoebe in sight! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    If I had Phoebe in sight, I'd certainly want to perform an insertion if you know what I mean... ** Nudge, nudge, wink, wink ***

    She was the hottest of the Friends.

  11. hrm. by abscondment · · Score: 3, Funny

    its first main-engine burn in five years

    This, as we all know, is the spaceship equivalent of a middle aged man gettin' some for the first time in a long while.

  12. Reporting as ordered -- by Buran · · Score: 2, Funny

    Planet Druidia's in sight, sir!

    --
    i am a soviet space shuttle
  13. Approaching Phoebe by payndz · · Score: 2, Funny
    It's a bit late for that now, isn't it? She already married Mike, and then the series ended!

    "Smelly probe, sme-elly probe..."

    (Unless it's the other Phoebe. Meh, she does nothing for me. Wake me up when the probe approaches Piper.)

    --
    You must think in Russian.
    1. Re:Approaching Phoebe by Lispy · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, this whole mission is so 1997. ;-)

  14. DOOM by Dumbush · · Score: 2, Funny

    wow, we should build a base on Phoebe(call it UAL), do some time-altering research, and prepare for imp onslaught...

    By then, we better have BFG

  15. Re:what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Are you trying to determine the net efficiency of a US scientist versus a European scientist?

  16. What? We call this news? by halivar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wake me up when we plant a flag on Jupiter.

  17. Re:protests by PalmerEldritch42 · · Score: 4, Funny
    Plutonium is commonly referred to as "the deadliest substance known to man" and for good reason.

    That is great. I hadn't heard that common referral before, so I googled the quote. Just to check their facts. I did the I Feel Lucky search. Lo and behold, I did find an article about the deadliest substance known to man. Apparently, it is not plutonium as is commonly referred. It is in fact dihydrogen monoxide

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une sig.

    :wq!