Dinca

The 12 photos that make up this sequence — this space travel animation—were taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, over a duration of about 45 mins.  In that span of time, the Cassini space covered almost  40,000 kilometers in its approach to a flyby encounter with Enceladus, one of Saturn’s many moons (Saturan has 46 known moons—more continue to be discovered). Cassini was traveling at 14.4 km/sec (or 32,211 mph) when these photos were taken.   Shortly after this sequence, at its closest, Cassini approached within 52 km (32.3 miles) of the surface of Enceladus.

Cassini is on a mission to study plasma. Did you know that plasma makes up 99% of the visible universe?  Wow, we need to learn more about it.

Electrical theorists argue that Saturn moves within the plasmasphere of the Sun and interacts with the Sun’s electric field. Planets and moons in the solar system are charged bodies. They are not isolated in “empty” space, but “converse” electrically with each other.  Read More

With all that’s going on these days, I think it’s time to re-watch 2001: A Space Odyssesy again.  One of my favorite films.