I recorded on my handy-dandy DVR a very nice special that ran last night on Discovery's Science Channel. It's entitled "Rendezvous with Saturn's Moon" and covers both Cassini and Huygens mission events and science results to date.

I think I may even have spotted our own Jason Perry in one shot, when they were talking about the ISS team. I could be wrong, but this one guy looked rather like the picture Jason linked to a few days ago. He was one of three people talking about a Titan image -- one of the other two people was identified as Elizabeth Turtle.

Was that you, Jason?

-the other Doug

Maybe. Were we sitting around a computer terminal with two Sun microsystem screens? One of the screens is labeled "Tethys"? Was the other person in the shot a woman, shorter than either Elizabeth or I, with long black hair? If so, we have a winner.

I saw that show last night on the Science Channel too. I recall several times I thought I saw Jason: A scene of two or three people standing, but by the time I realized it might be Jason, the camera moved and all there was of him was just a small portion of glasses and hair edging into the screen. During the lengthy interview with Elizabeth Turtle in the foreground, I thought it was Jason sitting in the background at a large CRT, facing away from the camera most of the time... but every now and then he would look to the left (toward another monitor?), and it seemed like him. I didn't notice someone else sitting there... they may have been off camera to the left (behind Elizabeth).

Too bad I didn't realize it was this show... I could have taped it and provided some screen shots. Next time, Jason, you'll have to do the interview!

Maybe he was making sure no one saw him online here

Good gob no. That was me in the background (hey they were filming in my computer lab and I needed to get my hours in). I tried my best to make it look like I was hard at work (no internet time).

BTW, the other person in the "sitting around the computer" shot, was the one sitting at the CRT to my left while Zibi was being interviewed. They wanted us for a later shot, the "sitting around the computer, pretending we are having a meeting" scene. Actually, that was a real meeting, well we were discussing things, boring info we were actually working on that day. Usually for these shows, we've had staged meetings, where we pretend to be discussing events.

Yep! Although the shots were cut together from a variety of specific times, what's displayed on the monitors varies from shot to shot.

You were even talking going into the first shot with you in it, Jason!

It's sort of kewl to be watching a program on the TV and see someone you know. And I feel like I know all you guys...

-the other Doug

I'd have to go look at the disc I recorded of the program. I "disked" it because I didn't recall taping a sci-channel program around the date of the probe entry, and a disk copy would be better than VHS if I'd previously gotten it. But I'll have to look again, I'd *SWEAR* the DirecTV guide (that I recorded for 5 seconds as a program ID) said a program date of Jan 13, 2004 or 2005.

If the program has recent info, does that mean it was first broadcast next year and they got the date of 1/13/2007 wrong?

This show was telecast on The Science Channel (formerly Discovery Science) on Tuesday, December 13 at 9 pm Central Standard Time. It included a lot of footage from early days (conception, construction, launch and cruise), but it also had a lot of footage, and many interviews, from times right up to maybe a month or so ago.

For example, the Huygens team was talking about the demise of their "creme broulet" model in favor of striking a pebble at impact, and there were very recent images of the plumes from Enceladus' tiger stripes, from the late November plume search. So, this is definitely an updated piece.

-the other Doug

The show will be repeated on The Science Channel:

Sunday, December 18, 2005

6 PM Eastern Standard Time