Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Antares Occulted ... sort of

Antares occulted
Normally when something's occulted, it's hidden (that's what the word originally meant, after all). When the Moon occults Mars, for instance, you can't see the planet.

But Saturn's rings aren't solid; they're particulate. So when they occult something by passing between it and the viewer, it - depending on how bright it is - may still be visible. As here, where the bright star Antares (or alpha Scorpii) shines through the rings occulting but not hiding it from Cassini's view.

As always, the Cassini site has all the details.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

     <-- Older Post                     ^ Home                    Newer Post -->