Wave at Saturn on Friday, July 19th

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Be ready to walk outside in the sun on Friday afternoon of July 19th. Strike a pose worthy of a historic photo for about 15 minutes between 4:27 PM and 4:42 PM CDT. Adjust for time zone, but all of north america should be in this soon-to-be-famous photo. Don't be shy. Take a few conventional snapshots of your pose in the minutes before to document the effort and share with friends.

A photo of Earth will be taken on July 19, 2013. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will photograph Saturn and its entire ring system, during a total eclipse of the sun, in natural light. Cassini will start obtaining the Earth part of the mosaic at 4:27 p.m. CDT (21:27 UTC) and end about 15 minutes later, all while Saturn is eclipsing the sun from Cassini's point of view. The spacecraft's unique vantage point in Saturn's shadow will provide a special scientific opportunity to look at the planet's rings. At the time of the photo, North America and part of the Atlantic Ocean will be in sunlight.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will take this picture of Earth from about 898 million (1.44 billion kilometers) away, or nearly 10 times the distance between Earth and the sun. It will be the first time Earthlings have had advance notice that their picture will be taken from interplanetary distances.

Cheers, John