Celestia Forums

Cassini has photographed shadows cast by individual particles within Saturn's rings (look in the centre of the image linked to below).

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i ... 133374.jpg

We may need a 3-d model of the rings at this rate...

Kim Stanley Robinson's novel [i]Red Mars[/i] has an interesting description of a space elevator collapsing onto Mars. You wouldn't want to be living anywhere near the equator...

Great update! Much more user-friendly than the previous version.

But lava IS grey, isn't it? (When it hardens.)

[Grasping at limits of my geological knowledge here...]

I like the choice of sea monsters for the names. I hope we get a Nessie Mare.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Sir Arthur has left this world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7304004.stm

Rest in peace, no-one did more to inspire young astronomers than him, I'd guess.

This blog posting describes a photo of Enceladus being lit by Rheashine, Tethyshine and Dioneshine:

http://planetary.org/blog/article/00001360/

Is this possible with Celestia?

This is interesting but it makes Jupiter look awfully drab and dark. I'm not sure this is realistic. It would be nice to find an atmospheric effect that is close to yours but brighter.

Wotcher.

--tsb

Wow!

Steve Albers has made a new Iapetus map.

http://laps.fsl.noaa.gov/albers/sos/sos.html

It'll work in Celestia if you offset it horizontally by 50%.

At last! A high-res view of Iapetus's bright side. This has been a long time coming. It's amazing, some regions look like they're covered in freshly laid snow. Iapetus must be one of the weirdest places in the solar system. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-list.cfm?browseL...

Interesting opportunity for comparing Celestia's version of the Saturnian system with the real thing "Family Portrait" of Saturn's moons http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001126/ Celestia cel://Follow/Cassini/2007-09-09T02:56:31.28063?x=9oJDwmtWexqD/////////w&y=rnrgEgzDsZwD&z=E9oTGRLuX...

Yikes. This is one lumpy moon. We're gonna need a model, not a sphere...

http://saturn1.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/ ... eID=126212

http://saturn1.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/ ... eID=126165

I guess this is the point to ask whether anyone's read Wheelers by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen... has some rather odd aliens in the atmosphere of Jupiter, but you'd expect that from the authors of Evolving the Alien. That reminds me of Iain Banks's The Algebraist , which also has wheel-shaped aliens...

Actually, the story has no real plot, as I recall: the hero goes to Jupiter, sees some cool stuff, and goes home. The end.

By the way, there's a similar descriptive passage in 2010, where Dave Bowman flies through Jupiter's atmosphere.

"A Meeting with Medusa" (1972). Great stuff.

Talking of real Io volcano movies, have you seen this one from New Horizons? It could be the coolest thing ever.

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00000972/

All these images seem too dull (in colour, I don't mean they're boring!) If I was in the Gliese 581 system and looking at the star, would I really be able to stare at it like I would a glowing ember? Or would it be blindingly bright and hurt my eyes, even if less so than our Sun? If so, shouldn't it...

Thanks Chris, good to know it's fixable.

I have two odd bugs. Planetary orbits are overlapping 3d models. See pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=483312451&size=o http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=483312439&size=o Specifically, the furthest half of the orbit overlaps; the nearer half doesn't. The effect only hap...