[Mitch]

Here are some recent photos from NASA's Cassini-Huygens satellite.


Above: Saturn


Above: Enceladus


Above: Hyperion


Above: Water geysers from Enceladus


Above: Telesto


Above: Dione


Above: Enceladus in front of Titan


Above: Titan

I was under the impression that Cassini doesn't take color pictures, so take NASA's color photos with a grain of salt.

Note 1: NASA's Cassini-Huygens Photo Contest website: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/poll/index.cfm?showheader=no

Mitch

[ATMyller]

I was under the impression that Cassini doesn't take color pictures, so take NASA's color photos with a grain of salt.

You're right it doesn't. Those colour are photoshopped on later. And even it could there's no way the colour's would be so vibrant that far away from the sun.
Nevertheless I have to admire the quality of the pictures. What kind of optics the Cassini camera has anyway?

[mir]

Cassini was launched in October 15, 1997. It contains really old-fashioned CCD-technology.
I guess my mobilephonecamera got more megapix than Cassini.

But what an amazing shot that upper picture! Saturn as a siluette against the Sun. I am using it as an background on the desktop now. I wonder now how Jupiter is looking from the same angle :-D

[enahs]

Cassini has many instruments. The "traditional" camera is black and white, but it is of super high quality.
However, the color in these pictures are not "photoshoped" in, from an artistic point.
It also has a infrared and Visible mapping spectrophotometer. This is where the color data comes from. If it was to be done as a picture, it would look horrible, using the spectrophotometer.

And I believe this is also the same method the Hubble Space Telescope uses.
The super high quality B&W for resolution and detail. The color, it is more important to get it in a format not like that of a picture, to analyze it properly from a scientific standpoint; but the color data can then easily be processed into the picture.


And your mobilephonecamera might got more mexapixels, but megapixels are not created equally, and I guanrtee it does not compare to its. Plus, as mentioned earlier it uses an entirely different system for taking pictures.

[constant thinker]

When I first saw those pictures I was taken back by the vibrant colors. I also figured it would have a B&W camera for photos and various spectroscopes.

Does anyone know if it happens to have UV capabilities? No particular reason other than curiosity.

[enahs]

Does anyone know if it happens to have UV capabilities? No particular reason other than curiosity.

It has instruments for the following electromagnetic radiation spectrum: Vis, UV, IR, Radio.
It also has a "plasma" and magnetic detectors.