Thursday, July 25, 2013

PHOTO. Space: Earth infinitely small for rings ... - TF1

 Image of the Earth from Saturn class=”title SZ11 c7″> The Earth was photographed Tuesday by NASA of a unique point of view, all near Saturn and its rings / Credits: NASA

A unique and rare shot. Especially since the image is in color. NASA has released a photo Tuesday of the Earth and Moon taken from a novel point of view, close to Saturn and its rings. The photo was taken by the Cassini spacecraft at about 1.4 billion miles from Earth, according to NASA.

At this distance, while the rings of Saturn are very recognizable, the Earth is only a small point of light in the background. “You can not see the continents or people on this portrait of the Earth, but this little blue dot is a brief summary of where we were on July 19,” said Linda Spilker, scientist working on the Cassini spacecraft. “The Cassini images remind us how our planet is tiny in the universe,” she added.

This picture is even more amazing that it was taken with a camera from the 1990s (the probe was launched in 1997), far less sophisticated and sharp instruments that current optical. The unusual angle of view was made possible thanks to the fact that the sun was behind Saturn, from the point of view of the probe. The planet has blocked most of the light, which would otherwise have been so intense that it would damage the sensor of the camera …

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