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Structures on the rings of Saturn
One of the most impressive images captured Cassini's narrow-angle camera on July 26, 2009 and was thus posted on NASA's webpage; http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11668 shows an incredible array of artificial structures IMO.
Initially, I did not recognize their geometric form. That was until I rotated the image below by 45 degrees which then produced these huge structures relative to the ring surface perpendicular plane. Only then could the structural designs be seen relative to the human eye. And upon close examination, an astonishing landscape (for want of a better word) began to take form.
It is important here to get a sense of the scale and size of these unbelievable structures.
The "thickness" of the actual "B Ring" material (which according to NASA is currently unknown) is around 1 to 3 meters until you arrive at the very edge where many of the structures tower at over 2km high!
Description from NASA:
Vertical structures, among the tallest seen in Saturn's main rings, rise abruptly from the edge of Saturn's B ring to cast long shadows on the ring in this image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft two weeks before the planet's August 2009 equinox.
Part of the Cassini Division, between the B and the A rings, appears at the top of the image, showing ringlets in the inner division.
In this image, Cassini's narrow angle camera captured a 1,200-kilometer-long (750-mile-long) section arcing along the outer edge of the B ring. Here, vertical structures tower as high as 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) above the plane of the rings -- a significant deviation from the vertical thickness of the main A, B and C rings,which is generally only about 10 meters (about 30 feet).
Cassini scientists believe that this is one prominent region at the outer edge of the B ring where large bodies, or moonlets, up to a kilometer or more in size, are found. It is possible that these bodies significantly affect the ring material streaming past them and force the particles upward, in a "splashing" manner.
This image and others like it (see PIA11669) are only possible around the time of Saturn's equinox, which occurs every half-Saturn-year, or about every 15 Earth years. The illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ring plane and causes structures jutting out of the plane to cast long shadows across the rings. The "season" of equinox allows shadows to appear on the rings in the months before and after equinox, but the actual equinox occurred August 11, 2009, as the sun shone directly edge-on to the ring plane.
This view looks toward the southern, sunlit side of the rings from about 32 degrees below the ring plane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 26, 2009. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 336,000 kilometers (209,000 miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 13 2 degrees. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.
Image PIA11668 as posted by NASA:
Image PIA11668 rotated 45 degrees:
As an architectural designer by profession, I could see that the structures actually had geometric form where below at their base, one can just make out a "city landscape" with conduit-like transportation forms can be seen running through at "ground location" so to speak.
Artistic rendering:
Geometric 90 degree structural forms congruent with the perpendicular plane.
Here's a short video I made spanning the edge of the B Ring:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B--tam0uh-oiS3BfbGdpV0lfdTA/view?usp=sharing
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A closer look:
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I've put together a "faux 3D" close up of the high rise "buildings" on the edge of B ring.
Now to get your head around this, focus on the oblique angle of the shot taken by the Cassini orbiter and try and capture in your mind's eye the immense height (2km) of these supremely beautiful structures undoubtedly designed and constructed by a race we can only imagine. Take your time and study their shape and form!
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