WAVING AT SATURN FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE
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WAVING AT SATURN FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Later today, July 19th, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will photograph Earth through the rings of Saturn. NASA is encouraging people to photobomb the shot by stepping outside to wave.
Cassini's cameras will be trained on Earth during a 15 minute interval that begins at 2:27 p.m. PDT (5:27 p.m. EDT or 21:27 UTC). That's the time to be outside.
A group of high school students in Bishop, California, plan to "do the wave" higher than anyone else. They're going to launch a helium balloon to the edge of space, reaching an apex 120,000 feet above Earth's surface at the same time that Cassini is taking its historic shot. Sponsored by Explore Scientific, the flight will carry a commemorative payload including items such as a Galileo Bobblehead, a copy of the Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, the names of the Cassini mission team, and much more. The winning items were selected competitively from more than 1056 entries suggested by Spaceweather.com readers.
To get an idea of what the flight might look like, take a look at this Alien Cupcake flown by the Earth to Sky Calculus team earlier this week for Cuperella Café:
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