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Aug 14, 2008: Targeting the Jet Sources - The geologically active "tiger stripe" fractures of Enceladus are revealed in unprecedented detail in three high-resolution Cassini image mosaics, acquired during the Aug. 11 flyby. [Press release here.] |
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Aug 12, 2008: Skeet Shooting Enceladus - Cassini's first-of-a-kind sharp shooting over the south polar terrain of Enceladus to image the unusual geology there was a dazzling success, capturing, at close range, several of the 'tiger stripe' fractures that cross the south pole. |
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Aug 7, 2008: Enceladus Rev 80 Flyby - Skeet Shooting Enceladus: Cassini will plunge toward Enceladus on Aug. 11, coming within a mere 50 kilometers of its equatorial region and diving through the icy spray of its towering south polar plume. The detailed schedule of events for this remarkably close encounter, which is expected to return exquisitely detailed views of the surface vents of Enceladus' famous jets, is presented in a special edition of the regular CICLOPS feature, Looking Ahead. |
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Captain's Log
June 18, 2006
Today, former Beatle Paul McCartney turns 64, a landmark anniversary made so by his own special blend of diverse musical creativity and sunny disposition captured in the old-fashioned song `When I'm 64',  recorded 40 years ago this year.
On this occasion, we pause to celebrate this extraordinary individual and the enduring gifts of music, joy and inspiration that he and his bandmates bestowed on all of us, back in the long-gone heady days of the 1960's.
Much has been said about the 60's, and how the coming of four young men from provincial northern England to American shores in early 1964 proclaimed the opening of that epochal decade. Much has been written about the massive influence of these four musicians of enormous charm and talent on the music, culture, and personality of that era, and hence on everything that followed.
But in all those volumes of analyses, what is not mentioned is that the birth of the Beatles coincided with the opening of the space age. And that is no accident.
The same post-war optimism that stoked the rich and unrestrained musical imaginations of the young Beatles in the late 50's also moved the pioneers of interplanetary travel to set their sights afar and dream of adventures to faraway worlds. In 1957, three months before the Soviet Union deployed the first artificial Earth-orbiting satellite Sputnik 1, John Lennon and Paul McCartney met at a church fest in suburban Liverpool. The Beatles were germinating while the early space age architects were laying plans to explore the planets. By the time of the Beatles' arrival in New York in early 1964, humankind had successfully reconnoitered the first planet, Venus. And the same anything-is-possible spirit, which by the late 60's had brought to full bloom tremendous societal upheaval but also daring artistic experimentation exemplified by the art and music of the Beatles, simultaneously propelled us off the planet and into space. By the time the Beatles had finished their last recorded album, Abbey Road, in 1969, humans had walked on the moon. It was for some of us a provocative and magical time.
In their relentless striving to surpass what they had done before, the Beatles set standards of musical creativity and excellence that are still unmatched today. That ceaseless striving for excellence and the confident pursuit of new frontiers is exactly what has brought us planetary explorers, 40 years later, to Saturn.
So it is fitting that today, in honor of Paul McCartney's most poignant birthday, we have taken sixty-four of our most dazzling images, a kaleidoscope of splendor and spectacle, and put them to motion and sound in a cinematic production. Our voyage through the Saturn system, mystical, psychedelic and the most magnificent there can ever be, is now accompanied by the music of the Beatles, the most imaginative, consistently innovative and visually evocative music there ever was. Both our journey and their music derive from the same wellspring of joy and hope. And as you will see and hear, the match is a perfect fit.
So, Paul...here is our gift, from us to you. Happy Birthday! And we hope you will enjoy the show.
[For information about the `Sixty-Four Sights from Saturn' movie, email .]
Carolyn Porco
Cassini Imaging Team Leader
CICLOPS/Space Science Institute
Boulder, CO
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| Captain's Log: Mission Accomplished! | | June 30, 2008 | In late 1990, a collection of hundreds of scientists and as many engineers across the US and Europe were assembled together and given the charge to undertake a far-sighted interplanetary expedition of enormous scope and reach.
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| Captain's Log: Diving Over Enceladus | | March 26, 2008 | Our run of daring tactical maneuvers over the surface of Enceladus to uncover as much as we can about this strange beast began two weeks ago, and today we learn what came of that encounter.
more... |
| Captain's Log: Holiday Greetings 2007 | | December 24, 2007 | So another year around Saturn is coming to a close, and by anyone's measure it has been a momentous time of adventure and revelation.
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| Captain's Log: Cassini's Diamond Anniversary | | October 15, 2007 | Ten years ago today, like a great mythological bird rising in brilliant magnificence from its funeral pyre, a mighty Titan IV rocket, equipped to scale the gravity binding it and its precious cargo to Earth, leapt with a deafening roar from Cape Canaveral's Launch Pad 40 on a pillar of orange flames, veered gracefully towards the east, and quickly receded into the black of night.
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| Captain's Log: The Wetlands of Titan | | March 15, 2007 | Will the wonders in this distant corner of our solar system ever cease? In recent months, our travels have taken us to realms around Saturn never before visited by spacefaring vehicles, showing us vistas never before seen by human eyes.
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| Captain's Log: A Year of Surveillance | | December 29, 2006 | As another year in Saturn orbit, and sixteen additional revolutions around the planet, come to a close, we look back on the spoils of 2006, a Year of Surveillance, when we dove in close and enjoyed repeated looks at the bodies and phenomena we discovered during our first 1.5 years around the ringed planet.
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| Captain's Log: Total Eclipse of the Sun ... and a Pale Blue Orb | | September 19, 2006 | In its ceaseless wanderings around Saturn over the last two years, Cassini has delighted us Earthlings with ever-changing vistas of Saturn and its collection of rings and moons. Today, we are treated to a rare view of the Saturnian system like we've never seen it before.
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| Captain's Log: Enceladus! | | March 9, 2006 | Enceladus! Last November, special imaging sequences trained on Enceladus as it sat backlit by the sun revealed in striking detail the plume of material that we had flown through back in July as we buzzed the Enceladus surface.
more... |
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