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Cassini-Huygens Reaches Phoebe

Posted by michael on from the bulls-eye dept.

Anonymous Explorer writes "The Cassini-Huygens probe is set to fly by the largest outer Saturn moon of Phoebe today. Cassini will be roughly 2000 km from the surface of Phoebe at 1:56 Pacific time Friday, June 11. Thats pretty darn close. The newest images of Phoebe are already thousands of times better than the previous ones taken by the Voyager 2 mission in 1981. Phoebe is interesting in that it maintains a retrograde orbit around Saturn. This has lead to the hypothesis that it is an ancient asteroid that has been captured by the gravitational pull from Saturn. Phoebe may provide some important insights into the composition of early building blocks of our planets. Phoebe was discovered in 1898 by American astronomer William Pickering. As always, discussion about this mission can be found at #cassini on irc.freenode.net."

15 of 178 comments (clear)

  1. Link? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Sheesh... What's the deal with people giving all these links? If you're going to do that, put something in there to distinguish it from the other nonesense links or something...

  2. Here's the lowdown by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    for an idea of what to expext, here are some preliminary images of Phoebe.

  3. Oh no, not Phoebe! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    The series has been cancelled, she's getting married and now she has to deal with probes! Hopefully Joey can help her out!

  4. Friends by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I thought friends finale was a few weeks ago?

  5. Hi-res images by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Mirrored just in time

  6. Re:No Different by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    i love you

  7. Looking at newest images of Phoebe... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Obi-Wan: That's no moon. It's a space station.

  8. Two objects on the picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    So Phoebe has a moon?

  9. Cassini-Huygens Reaches Phoebe by Timesprout · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Then decides she is too much of a dizzy blonde and that Rachel might be more interesting.

    --
    Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
    What truth?
    There is no dupe
  10. In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Astronomers have spotted Chandler Bing on a direct course for Uranus :D

  11. They have audio from Phoebe, too: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    ...zzttt crackle crackle ...

    Smelly cat, smelly cat
    What are they feeding you?
    Smelly cat, smelly cat
    It's not your fault ....

  12. Re:Parking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    No, it's the goatse guy. :(

  13. plenty by kunudo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Apparently, I can't spell.

  14. Re:You're a typical Slashbot dumbass. by gatkinso · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Healthcare: takes care of itself (victims die or heal)
    the poor: can damn well get jobs
    roads: ok that is a good point
    under water research: ever see Sphere?????
    STD's: keep it in your pants
    Iraq, Afganistan: puh-leeeze
    longevity: live clean + excersize and live long
    drugs: there is always Canada

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  15. Re:Tough to read... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    In memory of Ronald Wilson Reagan. We will never forget you, though you forgot us, and if we were poor, you didn't even know we existed.