Welcome to my Wednesday Night Blog - C I O ! (Check it out)

Tonight's fun Website is: CICLOPS

A friend of mine gave me the link to this Website, suggesting that perhaps it could be featured in one of my Blogs. I must confess I was somewhat reluctant because this site contains so much information about CASSINI, the satellite that takes pictures and information about Saturn. However, once I dipped into this site, I fell in love with it and with all the amazing pictures that Cassini has gathered in its mission (which will end on July of this year.)

The main pages are called: HOME, SEARCH, ISS, SCIENCE, TEAM, NEWSROOM, IMAGING DIARY, ARTROOM, THEATRE, MAPS and SECTOR 6. You can click on any of these pages, or on the left hand side, where some of them will give you a pull-down menu.

HOME = You'll find a humorous, very real-looking and sounding Captain's Log giving you information on the latest photos/information gathered by Cassini. "In March of this year they'll take several plunges over the surface of Encladous (one of Saturn's known moons) to allow Cassini's instruments teams to improve their measurements of the regions' properties."

Over to the right on Homepage, you'll see a small image of Saturn, called Scattered Sunlight. Click on it and it'll take you to a page where you can see an amazing, real picture of Saturn's rings (click on JPEG for full impact.) It took my breath away!

ISS = Yeah, I had the same question... what is ISS? I clicked on it to find the answer = IMAGING SCIENCE SUBSYSTEM (ISS) "The Cassini Imaging Science System was specifically designed for exploring the Saturn system, and includes spectral filters and imaging capabilities for a multitude of scientific objectives, including capturing lightning, investigating the three dimensional cloud structure and meteorology of the Saturn and Titan atmospheres, imaging the surfaces of its many icy satellites, determining the composition and structure of its enormous ring system, and peering through the hazy Titan atmosphere down its still unexplored surface." Phew... now THAT was a long sentence!

This is Cassini.

ARTROOM = Here you'll find artwork by some renown artists, all depicting Saturn in different ways. I specially liked SATURN's ENCELADOUS by John E. Kaufmann.

Enceladous was discovered in 1789 by Sir William Herschel, a British Astronomer. It is the eight of Saturn's known satellites. In Greek mythology, Enceladous was a Titan who was defeated in battle and buried under Mt. Etna by the Goddess Athena.

When I clicked on John E. Kaufmann's link, it took me on an amazing side journey. This man's work is really +out there+! His paintings are SO real as to look like real photographs! IMO. I was actually salivating at the sight of his pictures, but they're all copyrighted, so no pictures for this Blog.

Check out the links that all the artists provide for you, specially Kaufmann's. If you're into science fiction art, astronomy art, any kind of space art, your curiosity will be well satisfied in his Website.

THEATER = Click on this page and then on Feature Film, where you'll find a "travelogue of images chronologically detailing Cassini's 2000/2001 flight through the Jupiter system."

Next, click on PLANET WARS. I promise you it'll put a smile on your face, as you hear the well-known Star Wars theme music and similar introduction - the yellow words moving out into Space... this is a take on Star Wars and Darth Vader's Death Star! Very fun, even though it only lasts about 1 min or so, it's worth watching.

GOLF SECTOR 6 = When you click on this page, you'll find an amusing, easy to play golf game. Imagine what it would be like to play golf on the Moon, like Astronaut Alan Shepard did.... This game lets you tee off on Saturn's Moon. So go for it, have an Out of This World golf game! This is also where you can register as a New Alliance Member.

You'll find this Website at http://ciclops.org/index.php

Cool link = J.E.Kaufmann's Website: http://www.jek2004.com/index.html

And "For a multimedia tour of the Solar system: One Star, Eight Planets and more, by Bill Arnett" check out: http://www.nineplanets.org/

Thank you for joining me on this wonderful Journey through the Eyes of Cassini. Thank you, wonderful people at Ciclops, you made me feel like an Armchair Traveler to the Stars!!!

And thank you, Flash, perhaps we'll meet each other again, out there in Space, the Not So Distant, Not So Final, Frontier. Let's see what's out there...