Document · 1986
Ringmakers of Saturn (Bergrun, 1986)
Norman Bergrun's book, published by Pentland Press, Edinburgh, 1986 (ISBN 0 946270 33 3). He enlarged publicly released Voyager 1 and 2 negatives of Saturn under a microscope with high-intensity lighting and recorded them on self-developing positive film. In 45 plates he identifies slender, luminous "electromagnetic vehicles" that lay down ring material, cut the Cassini and Encke gaps, give off plasma braids and appear near Dione, Iapetus and even the Moon (Mare Orientale), with a link to Tunguska (1908).
On the record
- The preface says the inputs were "publicly available NASA photographs from Voyager 1 and 2 flybys", which he calls "strictly impersonal" because the probes were pre-programmed.
- He deliberately left out enhancement details, equations and jargon; the bibliography leans on NASA SP-451 (Morrison, Voyages to Saturn, 1982).
- The video covers Plates 5-8, 16-18, 20, 25, 26 and 28; the Dione, Iapetus, Moon and Tunguska chapters (Plates 32-45) are not covered.
Open questions
- The book gives no NASA frame numbers for its plates. Critics (Stuart Robbins, Metabunk) say the features come from photographing printed reproductions; that is a natural cause proposed, not demonstrated, because no one has published a plate-by-plate comparison with the Voyager frames.
Cases (3)
- 1917The 1917 light that crossed Saturn's rings
- 1980Bergrun's ring vehicles in the Voyager plates
- 1981The ring discontinuity band and its five lights
Connected
JPL press photo P-22994C: Voyager 1 colour view of Saturn (1980) documentNorman R. Bergrun personVoyager 1 and 2 at Saturn mission