LtE in CMO #260
From Thomas A DOBBINS
© . . . . . . .
. . Sent:
From: "Tom & Karen
Dobbins" <kmdobbins@coshocton.com>
To: "Masatsugu MINAMI"
<VZV03210@nifty.ne.jp>
Subject: Martian Flares News
Dear Masatsugu:
Please see:
http://SkyandTelescope.com/news/current/article_600_1.asp
A more detailed communication will
follow shortly.
Kind regards,
© . . . . . . .
. .Date:
Sat,
From: "Tom & Karen
Dobbins" <kmdobbins@coshocton.com>
Reply-To: "Tom & Karen
Dobbins" <kmdobbins@coshocton.com>
To: <vzv03210@nifty.com>
Subject: Saturn anomaly
Dear Masatsugu:
Attached please find an incomplete draft
of an article about a phenomenon that may prove to be almost as interesting as
the flares on Mars -- the "bicolored aspect"
of Saturn's A
ring. You will find a puzzling remark in red ("Valeri please carry this
ball") in the text
that is addressed to the Russian astrophysicist Valeri
Dikarev, currently working at the Max Plank
Institute. He is a specialist in ring dynamics and I am hoping that he can
suggest a mechanism for this strange phenomenon. Just as the observations last
year of Martian flares vindicated visual observers like Saheki,
the images obtained during this apparition of Saturn would seem to vindicate
Walter Haas.
Have Japanese observers witnessed
this phenomenon?
I welcome the comments of you and
your colleagues on this material.
Kind regards,
CMO
Note: We should wait for the article to be published, but DOBBINS
recommends an extensive observation of the Saturnian A ring when it is wide
opened to check the possible bicoloured asymmetry.
DOBBINS recalls the story which began when J C
BARTLETT in 1942 found Ring A to be differently coloured
on different sides: One side of Ring A was of clearly bluish while the other
was ruddy (S&T 1945 April). This was detected in integral light, but
seven years later
DOBBINS
cites a highly processed ccd image of Saturn by M Di
SCIULLO on 20 January 2002 which clearly shows the blue-red unbalance of A
ring, as well as the images by M DAVIS on 8 October and 20 December 2001 showing
the anomaly. So DOBBINS urges the ccd imagers to
re-examine their Saturn images hitherto secured.
DOBBINS’ original Caption: Maurizio di
Sciullo’s tricolor composites of monochrome
images taken on 
been exaggerated to increase
the visibility of the bicolored aspect of Ring A. In
the properly adjusted image at bottom, the anomalous colors persist but are so
subtle that they would probably have escaped notice by visual observers unaided
by color filters.
This anomaly does not appear in B ring,
implying the difference of the matters and sizes composing the rings.
Professionals have long been aware of “Ring
A's quadrupole azimuthal
brightness asymmetry” and
so they are now interested in DOBBINS' unearthing.
(Mn)
© . . . . . . .
. .Dear Masatsugu:
Thank you. I look forward to the reactions
of Sato and Horikawa.
Meanwhile, today I examined the fine
collection of Saturn images in Earl Slipher's 1964 book A
Photographic Study of 
the Brighter Planets. To my surprise and delight, I noticed that a pair of
images taken on 
western ansa* in red (top) and blue (bottom) light. The
"bicolored aspect" had been captured on film
by that great Mars observer only one year after
(20
May 2002 email)
*ansa (pl. ansae)
is from the Latin for "handles"; the extremities of the major axis of
the ellipse seen by Earthbound observers.
Tom
DOBBINS (Coshocton OH,