Slime wrote:
>>You never get to see shadows of Saturn's rings from earth because we're
>>always looking at it face-on.  Saturn is always behind us.  Cassini
>>approached Saturn from the side and therefore got to see the shadow.
> 
> We'll
> 
>>never see the shadow from earth.
> 
> 
> Saturn is 9.54 AU away from the sun (Earth is 1), so the maximum possible
> angle between our line of sight to Saturn and the incoming light direction
> on Saturn is 2*asin(.5/8) = 7.2 degrees. So it should be possible to see a
> sliver of the shadow when our orbits are in the right positions.
> 
>  - Slime
>  [ http://www.slimeland.com/ ]
> 
> 
Impressive as usual.  But I do wonder if I am the only one who does not 
make an immediate intuitive connection between 9.54 and .5/8?  And
149,598,000,000 for that matter? :(

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