Stereo images of Jupiter and Saturn
Manfred Rudolf
23. Jan 2004: The Jovian moon Ganymede is visible as a tiny bright dot, ca. 1/10
of Jupiter's diameter to the left. Ganymedes shadow is cast on Jupiter's disk.
The time-separated images show a stereoscopic effect. Ganymede and its shadow seem to float
clearly in front of Jupiter.
A similar effect can be seen with Saturn and its rings. Here the individual
images have been taken 20 minutes time-separated, on 23. Jan 2004. It seems that the crepe ring
is better visible than on a single picture, and it appears that the ring
is not plane but slightly curved inwards.
The Saturn stereopictures are quite difficult to see, you must have your eyes
exactly parallel to the long axis of the ring, otherwise the individual
pictures do not fall together.
The stereoscopic effect is much more pronounced when images of Saturn before and
after its opposition are combined (note the different shadow of Saturn's globe on the rings).
Left image: 8 Dec 2003, right image: 23 Jan 2004.
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