Michael Carroll’s Cosmic Comparisons
- Enceladus over Spain
- Eris, Ceres, and Charon over Europe
- Jupiter & Earth
- Earth & Luna
- Earth & Titan
- Epimetheus over France
If Earth Had Rings
First off, they would be really pretty to look at. They would also dominate the sky in both night and day at exactly the same place as they would never rise nor set. And at night you would see the Earth’s shadow swing across the rings, like in the 4th photo here.
However, life would be very different on Earth if this were the case. Nocturnal animals would have a hard time being nocturnal, as the light reflecting from the rings would illuminate the night.
Because we are closer to the Sun than Saturn is, the rings would be more rocky than ice, making them less bright but still pretty bright. In fact, you would see far less stars at night (living anywhere other than the equator or the arctic circle) because of the light pollution and not to mention ruin most meteor showers because of that.
During the day the rings would block sunlight in certain regions of the planet creating wild weather cycles and effecting plant life as well. So basically, they would be definitely pretty to look at but they would also make a whole lot of things screwy.
Illustrations by Ron Miller // io9
— Click the photos for captions
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Hubble Images are Produced, Not Taken
Images must be woven together from the incoming data from the cameras, cleaned up and given colors that bring out features that eyes would otherwise miss. In this video from HubbleSite, a Hubble-imaged galaxy comes together on the screen.
They’re not just ‘pretty space pics’ there is a lot of work going on before the end result. And this is an idea of how it happens.
Details of supernova remnant Cassiopeia A
Image credit: NASA/ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
