Saturn casts a shadow onto its rings

Released November 9, 2009, this image from Cassini shows the northern night side of Saturn sending a deep shadow across its rings while the 700-mile-wide Dione looks on.

The shepherd moon Pandora can be seen here as well, orbiting just outside the thin F ring, at center.

The Cassini spacecraft was over 800,000 miles from Saturn when this was taken.

View the original release on the CICLOPS site here.

Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

scalloped potatoes and ham

This picture is what I expect to be served when I order a meal.

Restaurant Review:
Crappy Food & Service Dione – Stop 50 Restaurant Gas Bar Motel, Fifty Road Exit – 1310 South Service Rd – Stoney Creek, ON , L8E5C5

What I was served was something nasty.

I had a nightmare dinner today that cost me $30 and I didn’t even eat it.

First I order the special which is scalloped potatoes, ham , veggies, a bun and soup for $12.

I get a bowl of yellow potato soup and that’s like soapy dish water and it’s just gross.

Then I’m served a plate of ice cold fatty ham, cold scalloped potatoes and green and yellow beans that are black, limp and look like they have been sitting for a week in the fridge.

I asked that my pineapple be raw and not cooked, and that’s how it started the bowl rolling.

I call the waitress over and tell her my problem, there is no apology she says nothing, grabs my plate in an angry manner and stomps off to the kitchen.

I’m beginning to simmer now.

Waitress brings back plate a second time. Plops it down and walks away. No apology, no smile, I’m causing her undue grief having to walk back and forth to the kitchen twice in half an hour.

Ham is different (boiled in water) and lukewarm.

Scalloped potatoes are even colder now, and veggies are ice cold.

I try and get her attention several times, she walks by our table 4 times and is busy talking to her girl friend from the kitchen and the cashier from the front store.

Finally I’m hoarse, I can’t yell her name , waving my arms, holding it up in the air, doesn’t get her attention, so I snap my fingers three times.

Her head shoots up and she comes storming over, I give her the plate and I’m ticked off, ham’s not warm, potatoes are cold and veggies too. (this is the 2nd time)

She takes the plate and storms into the kitchen, comes back and passes her station and slams something down, then she thumps around and brings the plate back and yells at me.

Don’t ever snap your fingers at me again!

I’m shocked!

Then she walks away in a huff.

She pokes her head out of the kitchen and points my way to a young girl who I presume is the cook.

Then she walks over to the cashier who comes and stands and stares at us. They are all giving us dirty looks.

Unbelievable!

I’m livid by now, my tempers at it’s peak and my food still isn’t warm.

I give up, I take a few bites, and she finally comes over.

I tell her, listen I tried to get your attention while you walked by us four times and I couldn’t so I had to snap my fingers to get your attention, I didn’t do it to be rude.

She says, “don’t ever snap your fingers at me again, I won’t answer you. That is my policy, I tell everyone that!”

Then she walks away.

She comes back 20 minutes later and hands us a bill.

We were there for a total of an hour and a half. We left around 3:30 pm.

She originally put the orders on two seperate sheets, and she was told “TWICE” that it was on seperate bills.

She smugly puts the ONE bill down on the table, we remind her were on separate bills, she says, “Oh the cashier can figure it out for you, I’ll tell her.” Then she informs us she will no longer be serving us, as her shift is done, and Sherry will take over.

Needless to say, Sherry never showed up. The girl Dione went and sat down with the kitchen staff and the cashier, in the dining room to gossip.

Nice…

I poked and prodded at my food, I was too upset to eat, and too mad to ask for a take out container.

The ham was dried out and looked like it was last weeks servings.

I have a message for Mr. Kim, who owns Stop 50 Motel Restaurant in Stoney Creek.

I will no longer visit your restaurant.

And now I am telling 100,000 tourists not to visit your restaurant.

I don’t want them to die of food poisoning, and yes I’m suffering at the moment from that little bit of food I ate there.

Secondly, don’t waste $13 bucks a plate, $3 for a pop and receive rude, obnoxious waitresses who can’t seem to serve HOT food.

Thirdly, the cook needs to learn how to COOK the food properly and stop serving last weeks food.

If I was a health inspector, I would have shut you down today and revoked every license that you have.

The last three times I’ve had very bad service from your waitresses and your restaurant, but today was the LAST straw.

They act like they have PMS, they are rude and your food is so bad, I wouldn’t even feed it to my dog!

The Health inspector should be checking this place out, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are rat and mouse droppings in the bathrooms, they smell like it and look nasty. I’d hate to see what your kitchen is like.

Also the little attitude on Dione wasn’t appreciated, if you have to TELL ALL YOUR CUSTOMERS not to SNAP their fingers at you, then maybe you can stop gabbing to your coworkers and do what your paid to do, serve your guests!

Customer service is very important, and this place doesn’t deserve to be in business.

When I order a hot meal of scalloped potatoes and ham, I am very angry to receive ice cold ham, straight from the fridge that has 3/4 fat on it, with hardly any meat, and loaded with gristle.

The worse thing is i’m broke now and I’m hungry and feel like a piece of crap after visiting this place.

I decided since it’s a truck stop and along the QEW NIAGARA, I’d save you the trouble.

It you go up the road a few more exits, (Casablanca) there is a nice clean food court with several restaurants in it.

The food is awesome there and so is the service, don’t waste your time or money on Stop 50 Restaurant Gas Bar Motel, off the Fifty Road Exit, in Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada.

stop 50 restaurant

Notre bureau est capable de mener pendant son mandat entier une action régulière et ambitieuse. Nous avons prouvé que nous pouvions mener de front études et investissement associatif, effaçant ainsi tout risque pour vous que la tête du BdE soit absente à un moment ou un autre de l’année. Nous maîtrisons le dossier du partenariat bancaire et avons su mettre en confiance l’administration, ce qui nous permettra d’obtenir bien plus facilement toutes les autorisations nécessaires pour nos projets. Nous souhaitons vraiment opérer une totale rupture avec la gestion du BdE de l’année dernière : transparence totale, démocratie respectée pour les décisions du BdE, travail collectif, Vices formés durant l’année, écoute des attentes de tous les étudiants. La tête de notre bureau se compose de personnes expérimentées et déjà toutes très impliquées dans l’organisation comme dans la participation à tous les évènements associatifs.

Le choix d’une liste à la tête du BdE doit se faire sur la base de la capacité de ce BdE à gérer efficacement et durablement, non pas sur les affinités avec ses membres.

Bienvenue sur le site de la liste Ivan – Pierre-Yves – Ismaël

Vous trouverez tout au long de la semaine des informations sur ce nous souhaitons réaliser si nous sommes élus le 10 novembre.

Rhea and Dione

Rhea overlaps sister moon Dione in this image, taken by Cassini on October 22. One of a series of raw images showing the moons approach and then pass each other.

Even at their closest passing the two moons are separated by more than 90,000 miles.

Image: NASA/JPL/SSI

When I saw this, I though “Wow! This must be one of the coolest tea sets I’ve seen thus far!” My first impression of the Dione Tea Set was that it’s something taken out of a dodgy lab, where a crazy scientist prepares his afternoon tea in-between experiments. It looks like a clash between the antique and the futuristic, as if stylized for a movie set in a completely different, fictional reality (like something out of Franklyn). Designed by Vuk Dragovic, this set features two spheric teacups and a pot. Each tea cup consists of two hemispheres separated by a net, that prevents the leaves from entering the hemisphere that you will drink from. Sounds complicated? Well… it is. Here is how to use it.

The teacup is made up of two hemispheres. Between the hemispheres is a thin net which prevents the tea leaves from entering the cup. While the aroma from the tea leaves is mixed with hot water, the cup is covered with the top hemisphere, preventing the aroma from evaporating into the air. After 3 minutes, when the tea leaves have released their flavor, the tea cup is ready to be flipped 180 degrees and the leaves will be separated from the tea.

With this set-up you can prepare the tea in the cups, just for yourself, or in the pot for more people. Dione will requite you to make quite a ritual of your tea-making routine, but it surely does leave quite an impression.

Hi

I have just released 10 new designs.

I have not made all the colours available just yet. But I do have “Dione” and “Lovely Ria” all done up in several lovely colours, displayed on each side of the red catwalk runway in my main store in Tropical Orchid.

The other designs are displayed on the red catwalk runway itself. I will be adding more colours to that range soon.

Available for purchase at my main store in Tropical Orchid.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tropical%20Orchid/230/128/30

Most of my update group members will remember my Betty gown in red which I sold for 1L just for members, well I have placed Betty Short Dress in Red for 0L for purchase only from today till the 17th September 2009 at 12 noon SLT.

The new designs are as follows:

DNR Daria Business Suit in Red

DNR Clarity Dresses in Blue

DNR Amanda Dresses in Red


DNR Lana Gypsy Collection in Red Choc

DNR Avana Fur Coat Jacket in Brown

DNR Sheena Satin Glitter Set in Green

DNR Larissa Collection in Purple

DNR Autumn Bliss in Red

DNR Lovely Ria Collection with a 10 colours

DNR Dione Gown with a choice of 8 colours

Hi

I have just released 10 new designs.

I have not made all the colours available just yet. But I do have “Dione” and “Lovely Ria” all done up in several lovely colours, displayed on each side of the red catwalk runway in my main store in Tropical Orchid.

The other designs are displayed on the red catwalk runway itself. I will be adding more colours to that range soon.

Available for purchase at my main store in Tropical Orchid.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tropical%20Orchid/230/128/30

Most of my update group members will remember my Betty gown in red which I sold for 1L just for members, well I have placed Betty Short Dress in Red for 0L for purchase only from today till the 17th September 2009 at 12 noon SLT.

The new designs are as follows:

DNR Daria Business Suit in Red

DNR Clarity Dresses in Blue

DNR Amanda Dresses in Red


DNR Lana Gypsy Collection in Red Choc

DNR Avana Fur Coat Jacket in Brown

DNR Sheena Satin Glitter Set in Green

DNR Larissa Collection in Purple

DNR Autumn Bliss in Red

DNR Lovely Ria Collection with a 10 colours

DNR Dione Gown with a choice of 8 colours

Tonight I tried my hand at photographing a few Deep Sky Objects. The Hartman mask was extremely useful for focusing, but after tonight it’s clear that I’m going to need to control the D50 by tethering it to the laptop to get best results. Manipulating the zoom controls for the LCD is awkward at best. I may need to spend some time just practicing focusing on a few different stars.

Saturn was actually the first target before the DSOs. I captured a couple of images at ISO 800 and 4 sec exposure that included the moons Titan, Tethys, Dione, and Iapetus (Rhea was transiting and lost in Saturn’s glare). I reduced the exposure time several steps, but it was hard to see much detail in the LCD (another argument for tethered control), so I moved on.

Next I tried M13, the globular cluster in Hercules. This actually turned out to be the best subject of the night. One of the photos had some jitter from the wind shaking the telescope (did I mention it was occasionally quite breezy?). Most were fairly good, however, with nearly round stars — limited by the sharpness of the focus, most likely. Click the image to see a very large full-sized photograph. If you look closely you can see stars of several different colors in the cluster. M13: FL 2032mm, ISO 800, 30sec exposure, f/10.

M13

Next came M57, the Ring Nebula in Lyra. I captured several images, but they all showed noticeable wind jitter. I’m certain this is telescope vibration and not tracking error because the motion vector varies from one photograph to the next. I merged the four best frames in Registax, stretched to compensate for the motion vector, applied a gamma correction to increase the brightness, then reduced the image size to improve the apparent sharpness of the focus. M57: FL 2032mm, ISO 800, 30 sec exposure, f/10.

M57 - The Ring Nebula

The next target I tried was M27, the Dumbbell nebula. However, even with a 30 sec exposure at ISO 800 there was almost no trace of any nebulosity in the photo, so I moved on.

I decided to re-balance the telescope forward to compensate for the extra weight of the camera on the back. This, of course completed wrecked the scopes alignment so I had to restart. After alignment I focused the camera on Mizar (ζ UMa). It’s a nice blue double, but it’s included here for more than aesthetic reasons. According to SNP, the separation between Mizar A and B is 14 arc-seconds. In the unprocessed photo, the distance between the centers of the stars is approximately 19.3 pixels (along a diagonal). This puts the resolution for the camera at about 0.725 arc-seconds per pixel. By comparing similar measurements of other doubles I should be able to calculate the actual resolution more accurately. Mizar: FL 2032mm, ISO 800, 1/2 sec exposure, f/10.

Mizar A and B

After rebalancing I Attempted several images of the Whirlpool galaxy M51. The cores of M51 and its companion galaxy both appeared tiny and featureless over several photographic attempts.

Day and Night on Dione

A large-scale crater rides the terminator between day and night on Dione, a 700-mile-wide moon of Saturn. The moon’s signature “wispy lines” can be seen on the sunlit side. These are long fractures in the moon’s surface, exposed ice-covered cliffs hundreds of feet high. Scientists believe they indicate past tectonic activity, or possibly the remnants of geologic vents like Enceladus’ currently active “tiger stripes” features.

Dione was discovered in 1684 by Giovanni Cassini. The spacecraft that bears his name took this photo on May 18, 2009.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Fortunately, yesterday was not cloudy and I could do further experiments with Saturn. Using a Barlow 2x and Casio Exilim EX-FS10 camera I filmed some videos at highest resolution through the big dobsonian telescope Meade Lightbridge 16-inch. Weather conditions were good. I did a better collimation than previous days, getting sharp focus from time to time. Stacking the frames with Registax 5 I got this resulting image:

In the left side of the image, it is visible a satellite of Saturn. It is Titan, with 9 magnitude. Over it, a bit at right there is almost visible another one, Rhea of magnitude 10. Visually it was observable another one aligned to Titan and Rhea, but it is not visible in the image. It was Dione with 11 magnitude.

Luckily this image shows the gap between foreside ring and its rear part. The image effective resolution according to my calculations is 1 arcsecond. Two cloud bands are visible one in the north hemisphere and the other in the south.

I would like to break the 1 arcsecond resolution barrier, but I don’t know if it is possible with this telescope. Theoretically it delivers a 0.3 arcsecond resolution because it has 400mm of mirror diameter.

Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: 0%Transparency: average (3/5)
Seeing: poor (2/5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: breezy 10-15 mph
Temperature: 70-75
Humidity: 52% up to 64%
Dew Point: 50-60
Time: 8:30 pm – 10:30 pm CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

Used Live cam to image Cor Caroli (DBL) and Saturn. Live cam does not appear to have as much clarity as the NexImage; images are fuzzier. Still post-processing image data for publishing.

Cor Caroli taken with Creative Live Cam through Celstron 8" SCT under poor seeing conditions. 91 total frames aligned and stacked.

Also observed Saturn visually. Titan, Rhea, and Dione formed a nearly equilateral triangle off one limb of the rings, Tethys orbited outside the other limb. Iapetus still at relatively small separation from Saturn.

Saturn and five of its moons taken with Creative Live Cam through Celstron 8" SCT under poor seeing conditions. Two separate exposure settings for Saturn and for its moons. 253 total frames, aligned, stacked, and heavily processed.

M40 DBL in UMa faint and unremarkable, approximately equal magnitudes.

M85 GAL in Com appeared as a very faint fuzzy.

Algorab DBL in Cor – easy split, guessed delta mag 4 or 5. SNP lists Algorab as 2.9, doesn’t show companion or even indicate Algorab is a double.

24 Com – yellow primary, blue secondary. Guessed magnitudes 4 and 5, SNP lists them as 5.0 and 6.6, but online reference listed them as 5.2 and 6.5. In fact, I’ve noticed that researching star magnitudes online there is a lot of variability inthe magnitudes reported for most stars. Not sure what to make of that yet.

Location: at home in Tomball, TX
Cloud cover: none
Transparency: above average (4/5)
Seeing: average (3/5)
Darkness: no moon, city glow
Wind: none
Humidity: 50%-75%
Temperature: low 60’s
Start Time: 8:20 pm CDT
End Time: 10:30 pm CDT
OTA: 8″ SC

Saturn alternately fuzzy & clear; Iapetus “close” to planet, Titan and Rhea distinct, Dione & Tethys occasionally lost in glare and turbulence.

M35 OC was amazing, brought Amanda outside to see. Many, many stars (guide info said 70+) over a narrow magnitude range within 1/2 degree region.

38 Gem DBL, could not see color difference. Guessed delta mag between 3 and 4; SNP lists them as 4.7 and 7.8.

β Mon TRIPLE, split with 12.5mm Plossl, appeared DBL in 25mm.

NGC 2392 (eskimo nebula) appeared as a fuzzy disk with a distinct central star. No detail visible.

ζ Can DBL/QUAD (tegmen); ζ1 and ζ2 easily split, close binaries beyond ability of 8″ SCT.

ι Can DBL; blue and yellow easy split. estimated yellow about 1.5 mag brighter than blue. SNP actually lists them as 4.0 and 6.6, so more like 2.6…

NGC 3242 PNEB, also called “Ghost of Jupiter”. Appeared as a fuzzy disk with no detail and no central star. Seems smaller than Jupiter (in arcsec).

location: Tomball, TX
time: 800pm-930pm
cloud cover: 0%, gradually increasing
transparency: 100%
seeing: poor (2/5)
darkness: city sky glow, just past quarter moon
wind: gusty 10mph+
temperature: low 60’s
humitidy: 35%
dewpoint: 31F

barely able to discern tiny black gap between rings and planet. Titan, Dione, and Tethys formed a nearly equilateral triangle to the left of the rings. Rhea about 2 ring diameters to the right.

54 leonis, double star. I guessed difference of 1 mag, SNP lists them as 4.3 and 6.3. primary appeared white with blueish fringe, secondary subtle light blue. close pair but definitely not a hard split.

location: Tomball, TX
time: 730pm-900pm
cloud cover: 0%
transparency: 100%
seeing: average (3/5)
darkness: city sky glow, 1st quarter moon
wind: 5-10mph

lunar terminator crossed montes apenninus, mountain peaks were outstanding. high contrast thin fissures in SE mare vaporum: rima hyginus and rima ariadaeus. long parallel hills near rima hyginus seem un-crater-like, perhaps formed by tectonic activity?

rings of Saturn appeared as a line segment through the planet’s disc. Rhea and Dione out to the left of the rings. Tethys beyond the right edge of the rings, sometimes swallowed by bad seeing. Titan bright about 4x ring diameters from Saturn, Iapetus approx, 4x farther than Titan and surprisingly off the “line” of Saturn’s rings, probably due to orbital inclination.

Imagem feita pelo telescópio Hubble registra em um mesmo quadro quatro das luas de Saturno: a gigante Titã (acima, à direita, fazendo sombra no polo norte) e abaixo, da esquerda para direita, Encélado, Dione e Mimas. A cena só é observada quando os anéis do planeta estão perfeitamente na horizontal quando vistos da Terra, o que ocorre a cada 14 ou 15 anos.

]]> http://lightsinthedark.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/ringshine/ Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:58:43 +0000 J. Major http://lightsinthedark.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/ringshine/

Lights in the Darkness

Moons Dione and Janus are crescent-lit by the scattered light of Saturn’s F-ring, a narrow, clumpy ring with a bright core of water ice particles. (Dione is in the foreground.) This photo was rendered in true color by Gordan Ugarkovic using raw image data.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Gordan Ugarkovic.

Alicia Silverstone had her big break in the very popular teen movie Clueless. I remember when it just came out. My brother had the huge movie poster hung in his room. I didn’t know what the movie was about, but the poster with teenage girls in high-class fashion and talking on their high-tech mobile phones . . . any little girl would dream of watching it! Girls that play with dolls and play make-up that is. Clueless has turned into a classic. It is so popular because it made it possible to like a girl we normally would hate; beautiful, rich, and popular.

After watching Clueless I wanted to watch other movies she has appeared in. I’ve seen Blast From the Past because both Alicia Silverstone and Brendan Fraser are in it (hey! check out the previous post!). I was curious about Excess Baggage for a while so I decided to watch it. I knew it wasn’t going to be a ‘clever’ film and it might be a little silly but who cares.

Then I watched it and it wasn’t what I expected at all. I thought it was going to be another Blast From the Past type of feeling but it’s not. Alicia Silverstone plays a girl named Emily, who is still beautiful and rich, but she likes to rebel for her father’s attention. She may even have set her old school on fire! This time she pretends that she is kidnapped. She throws herself into the boot all tied up and waits for someone to get her. Somebody ends up stealing her car with her inside. Vincent has stolen lots of cars (to sell or something, not really paying attention) and now being charged with kidnapping, it will make his jail sentence even longer. What a dilema. So a fake kidnapping turns into a real one and that is just the beginning.

Sounds interesting doesn’t it? I thought it did before it kept dragging on. Just tell the truth already, Emily! Hurry up and return to your father.

I don’t know what genre this belongs to. If it was meant to be a comedy, it wasn’t very funny. If it was meant to be a drama, it wasn’t dramatic. Action? Not enough action. A romance flick? Maybe, but I don’t think Alicia Silverstone and Benicio Del Toro (Vincent) make a good couple.

The highlight of the film was Christopher Walken. He is an excellent actor.