SOHO watches Saturn and Cassini pass behind Sun

SOHO watches Saturn and Cassini pass behind Sun

27 July 2005

In this SOHO image, taken 21 July 2005, the Sun is represented by the white
circle in the centre. Saturn is the bright object to the left of the Sun.

Saturn was approaching a position called 'superior conjunction', that is, it
would be almost directly behind the Sun as seen from Earth. Therefore the
NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, was not able to
send or receive transmissions normally.

As Cassini passed close by the limb (edge) of the Sun on 24 July,
communications became impossible because of the Sun's radio noise. The
spacecraft regained full communication with Earth on 27 July, once again
returning Saturn science data.


In the meantime, Cassini radio scientists are taking advantage of this
opportunity to study the Sun's corona from its effects on the radio signals
that reach Earth. This is a joint co-ordinated observation involving two
SOHO instruments (UVCS and LASCO), plus Cassini and some ground-based radio
sites.

Interestingly, the bright 'streak' accompanying Saturn is not the rings but
a result of 'pixel bleeding'.

SOHO, the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, orbits the Sun parked
in one of the five gravitationally neutral spots, called 'Lagrange points'.
This specific spot, called L1, stays in the same place relative to the Sun
and Earth, offering SOHO a continuously uninterrupted view of the Sun.


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info