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Article: Saturnalia; What would Galileo say?(NEWS)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
- Article date:
- July 7, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Star Tribune Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Even Cassini's controllers are agape at its photographs of Saturn's rings, perhaps the best known but least understood feature of Earth's planetary siblings.
Out in Boulder, Colo., the head of the imaging team thought her colleagues were pranking her with the probe's first fine-grained closeups; in all her years of working on this mission, Carolyn Porco was unprepared for what they put before her. Having regained her scientific detachment, she later observed, "I'm surprised at how surprised I am at the beauty and clarity of the ring images; it's shocking."
Yes, it is - and the pictures are not just good-looking but rich in scientific interest. ...