Astronomy

Photos of little Brothers Earth and Moon from Big Brother Saturn

The planet Saturn is one of my favourite planets especially to view with a modest size telescope.

I have enjoyed viewing  it with my telescope in the past

Through my scope it is wonderful greenish pink with the awesome ring system

Nasa has just released photos of the Earth and Moon taken on 19 July 2013 from the Cassini spacecraft  nearly a billion miles away (i.5 million Kms). Cassini has been studying and sending back amazing photos of the gas giant, it’s rings and fascinating moons

Scientists wanted to pay homage and so replicate the iconic “Pale Blue Dot” image of Earth captured by the Voyager 1 probe in 1990.

This was the first time people knew in advance that their long-distance picture was being taken.

As part of the event launched by Nasa, people were asked to wave in what Carolyn Porco, who leads Cassini’s camera team, described as an “interplanetary cosmic photo session”.

Say cheese: the Earth and the Moon pictured from a billion miles away 🙂

“It thrills me no end that people all over the world took a break from their normal activities to go outside and celebrate the interplanetary salute between robot and maker that these images represent,” said Dr Porco, from the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

The wide-angle image is part of a larger mosaic – or multi-image portrait – that imaging scientists are putting together of the entire Saturn system.

Pictures of Earth from the outer Solar System are rare because, from that distance, Earth is very close to the bright Sun.

Just as a person can damage their retina by looking directly at the Sun, a camera’s sensitive detectors can be damaged by the bright rays.

These images were taken when the sun had moved behind the planet Saturn from the spacecraft’s point of view, blocking out most of the light.