CHECK THIS OUT

[DonAVP]

Hey:

This is a cool sight that I have been going to regularly over the last couple of months http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ Some of you all may know about this but thought I would post a link. The image changes every day so if you read this a couple of days from now backup at the bottom of the page. It is the image of Saturn from the shadow side backlite by the sun. AMAZING!!

Enjoy
Don

[Malenfant]

You can get daily updates on Cassini (on weekdays anyway) at:
http://ciclops.org/index.php

They've got a lot more awesome images there, just of the Saturn system . Plus there's the main JPL Cassini website at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

But yeah, APOD is pretty cool too.

[Hoover]

I was going to mention this picture but since there is already a thread on it, then a question.

Is it possible to simulate this in Celestia? I don't have the most up to date Cassini trajectory but I'm not sure it would work anyway. The angular size of the Sun and Saturn are just too different as seen from Cassini. In fact I'm not totally convinced the actual APOD picture has the Sun the same size as Saturn (aspect wise). I'd have to see a time lapse movie of it to be sure. Or a simulation of it like say in, ahem, Celestia.

[selden]

Celestia cannot yet simulate all of the optical effects involved in light passing through and reflecting from the particles in the rings, but many of the other aspects of the eclipse can be seen.

[Hoover]

Still good nonetheless. Aspects can be found where the sun passes through the rings such that they can almost be counted. A nice simulation.