Cassini Equinox & Solstice Mission, (nine year extension)!!.

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

A few more just come in.

.

From approx 34,000 KM.

Closest Approach to Helene in 41'. The Saturnshine observations of Helene should be wrapping up about now.

Andrew Brown.

 

[nimbus]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Immaculate..

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Helene images coming in.

Helene in Saturnshine, an enlargement I have just done. The sunlit portion on the right is overexposed to bring out detail in the Saturnlit nightside of the leading Dione Trojan moon Helene.

Helene in front of Saturn's cloudtops enlarged crops I've just done.

Helene passing over Saturn's stormy cloudtops. A sharpened enlargement.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Santa Andrew and Cassini, thank you both

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Santa Andrew and Cassini, thank you both

EarthlingX I am in my friggin element right now. :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :shock:

NASA / JPL have released these soooooooo quickly too.

Three more.

All enlarged crops I have done.

Helene southern 'hemisphere'.

Whole detailed view of Helene in front of Saturn.

This one is a real sharp SKEET closeup. Cassini's cameras actually very nearly missed Helene altogether, but caught the dawn terminator. In just this tiny area just a KM long (resolution 11 metres), much detail is visible, as is the lack of craters!!!

Andrew Brown.

 

[silylene]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

It's content like this that keep me coming back to the SDC forums ! Thanks everyone.

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

It's content like this that keep me coming back to the SDC forums ! Thanks everyone.

You are more than welcome silylene. Just wait when Mars Express returns the super close Phobos images & the Rosetta Spacecraft passes by the large 132 KM wide Main Belt Asteroid 21 Lutetia. I will be on hand, I'm sure. :shock: :shock:

Last ones for tonight!!!! :lol:

Enlarged sharpened view of Saturnlit Helene, a different image to the earlier one.

Same view as above, but I have contrast enhanced it to bring out more detail. The dark circle just above the crater is due to a micrometeroid hit on the narrow angle camera lens. There are a few image artifacts, but the lack of small craters is apparent & some icy outcrops are also visible.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Right this IS the last one for tonight!!! Keep finding these. :shock:

Another frame that Cassini's cameras actually very nearly missed Helene altogether, but caught the dawn terminator. In just this tiny area, just over one square KM (I think) it is appararent how an icy layer is overlying another. It is possible to see ice boulders on the near rim of the crater & their shadows being cast on the opposing side!!!!!

Good Night everyone.

Andrew Brown.

 

[bushwhacker]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Well Andrew you just destroyed my Fantasy of a donut shaped UFO.. But beautiful pictures Thank You

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

This image doesn't have so high marks on Cyclops site, but i like it nevertheless :
from Helene "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #1

There are more, most, if not all of them already above this post
Helene Rev127 Flyby Raw Preview

This are raw images from Rhea flyby : (What are those lines ? They make it look like a tennis ball .. Crust contraction as a result from cooling, like we see on Mercury ? Cooling from what ? :? Plate tectonics ? :shock: More liquid ? :? .. )
From Rhea "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #1

Rhea "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #2


Rhea "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #3


and more ..

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Guessing about the karst caves on the Titan :
Is That Saturn's Moon Titan or Utah?

Mar. 04, 2010

Planetary scientists have been puzzling for years over the honeycomb patterns and flat valleys with squiggly edges evident in radar images of Saturn's moon Titan. Now, working with a "volunteer researcher" who has put his own spin on data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, they have found some recognizable analogies to a type of spectacular terrain on Earth known as karst topography. A poster session today, Thursday, March 4, at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, displays their work.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Just noticed, Titan flyby next :
from http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

Cassini Status
Next Encounter Countdown:

Titan Flyby
7,461 km (4,627 mi)
Apr 05 2010 (SCET)

There are also new releases of Tethys and Rhea maps, which are already safely on my disk :roll:

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

This are raw images from Rhea flyby : (What are those lines ? They make it look like a tennis ball .. Crust contraction as a result from cooling, like we see on Mercury ? Cooling from what ? :? Plate tectonics ? :shock: More liquid ? :? .. )
From Rhea "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #1[/u

[url=http://ciclops.org/view/6237/Rhea_Rev_127_Flyby_Raw_Preview_2]Rhea "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #2


Rhea "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #3


and more ..

Thank You very much EarthlingX.

Great point you made about Rhea. Those faults do look similar to the rupes on Mercury & in the case of Mercury, are certainly due to the cooling of the mantle, resulting in shrinkage, causing the rigid crust above to crack. Mercury's rupes could still be active & generating Mercuryquakes, though we will not know for sure till seismometers are on the surface.

Rhea's do look remarkably similar, but unlike Mercury, which is a differentiated, internally evolved body, Rhea appears primitive through out, undifferentiated & unevolved. Mercury displays signs of volcanism & MESSENGER has certainly found at least one shield volcano, amongst other volcanic features on Mercury. Rhea just appears to be a cratered icy body, where not much else has happened, apart from being cratered. The thrust faults though are interesting & are suggestive that something has happened here. I wonder if they are realted to the Tirawa Basin forming event???

Worth bearing in mind, Mercury is mostly iron with a silicate mantle & crust, Rhea is almost composed of pure ice.

Dione leafing trojan moon Helene.

Three more crops I have done. At least we got some decent imagery before Helene drifted out of view due to the pointing error of Cassini.

A crater approx 5 KM wide on Helene. Strange 'flow' like patterns are seen in the icy surface.

An area approx 4 KM wide showing the southern part of the above crater & some ice hills / outcrops. A small ghost crater, probably ice filled can be seen.

A 4 KM wide area near the dawn terminator of Helene, more strange 'flow' like patterns are seen here along with a remarkably smooth area lacking any impact craters at all.

Below the 1,123 KM wide Gibbous Dione herself, seen on Thursday 4th March 2010. A sharpened enlargement I have done. Dione is certainly one of Saturn's most interesting moons.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

This image doesn't have so high marks on Cyclops site, but i like it nevertheless :
from Helene "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #1

Yes, I agree, I like that image very, very much too. Has been severely underated on CICLOPS IMO. I voted the maximum 10 marks for it as with all of the others.

That's a very good enlargement too EarthlingX. I hope you won't mind me doing some work on it too. I will cite yourself as the source.

If we can work together with the images, that will be something. I actually saw the Helene images come in live on the Cassini Raw Images site. Could no believe the timing. I was looking & it still showed the Rhea images, then these blank squares appeared suddenly & the Helene Saturnlit images images appeared as I watched. Then a few minutes later, more blank squares appeared & then the other images appeared.

I may be one of the very first people outside of NASA to have ever seen these. Not the first time though, I watched the Phoenix Mars Lander images come in live & the Deep Impact images of Comet Tempel 1, saw those come in live too.

It's a huge thrill, it really is & I got the Helene images on here as quickly as I could, so people could say, they saw them here on SDC first.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

This image doesn't have so high marks on Cyclops site, but i like it nevertheless :
from Helene "Rev 127" Flyby Raw Preview #1

Yes, I agree, I like that image very, very much too. Has been severely underated on CICLOPS IMO. I voted the maximum 10 marks for it as with all of the others.

Sounds familiar .. :roll:

That's a very good enlargement too EarthlingX. I hope you won't mind me doing some work on it too. I will cite yourself as the source.

Khm .. do you have to ? I didn't do much, just clicked a couple of times, the rest was done by Gimp, default parameters, i can tell you details if you want ?

If we can work together with the images, that will be something. I actually saw the Helene images come in live on the Cassini Raw Images site. Could no believe the timing. I was looking & it still showed the Rhea images, then these blank squares appeared suddenly & the Helene Saturnlit images images appeared as I watched. Then a few minutes later, more blank squares appeared & then the other images appeared.

Yes, i read there was a problem with misalignment due to the non precisely known Helene orbital parameters. Bumpy drive Better next time, i think i read somewhere, they already plan for a next flyby

About the images, just tell me, what can i do ?

I may be one of the very first people outside of NASA to have ever seen these. Not the first time though, I watched the Phoenix Mars Lander images come in live & the Deep Impact images of Comet Tempel 1, saw those come in live too.

It's a huge thrill, it really is & I got the Helene images on here as quickly as I could, so people could say, they saw them here on SDC first.

Andrew Brown.

It was a hot thread during that time Thank you again for keeping us in the loop

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Hey, i just noticed i didn't ask for at least some suspicion as to where those 'flow' like patterns come from ? Vibrations due to the gravity rock-n-roll ?

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Yes those flow like patterns on Helene.

I have no idea, it could be due to settling, or how the icy surface has accumulated. The surface gravity of Helene can't be any more than 1/1,000th that of Earth's!!!

These just in.

Overexposed distant views of Iapetus. These observations are to see if dust from the newly found ring is accumulating on Iapetus, or perhaps even a thin dust ring orbiting Iapetus. Iapetus was approx 3.5 million KM away.

Trailing stars can be seen in the background. Spots are instrument noise & cosmic rays. Iapetus was passing in front of the constellation of Coma Berenices as seen from Cassini during these observations.

Iapetus just off the frame at lower left. Deliberate to see if dust concentrations & / or a dust ring could be detected within the Hill Sphere of Iapetus.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Yes those flow like patterns on Helene.

I have no idea, it could be due to settling, or how the icy surface has accumulated. The surface gravity of Helene can't be any more than 1/1,000th that opf Earth's!!!

I'm a bit lazy to do the proper calculations, i'll take your word for it

Settling, yea, it looks like rocks rolling downhill on the snow .. I don't remember seeing any boulders or something at the end of those tracks, but was also not checking for that specifically .. hm .. :? Where on Earth could you see something like it :?:
They are also parallel, sort of exposed layers, and then i have no more ideas as to what to compare them with :? :roll:

Anyway, since i'm already in this lands, i'll drop this in :
From http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/index.html :
Huygens on Titan

In 2005 the robotic Huygens probe landed on Titan, Saturn's enigmatic moon, and sent back the first ever images from beneath Titan's thick cloud layers.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Cassini Data Show Ice and Rock Mixture Inside Titan

Mar. 11, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. -- By precisely tracking NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its low swoops over Saturn's moon Titan, scientists have determined the distribution of materials in the moon's interior. The subtle gravitational tugs they measured suggest the interior has been too cold and sluggish to split completely into separate layers of ice and rock.

Artist's illustration of the likely interior structure of Titan
This artist's illustration shows the likely interior structure of Titan deduced from gravity field data collected Cassini.

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Yes thank you very much EarthlingX.

Fascinating. It is interesting as Titan appears to display cryovolcanic features such as Genesa Macula (cryoshield volcano) Hotei Arcus (cryovolcanic ice flows), faulting, etc. This would suggest a highly differentiated body like the Jupiter moon Ganymede (the only moon in the solar system known to generate a global magnetosphere & have a dual layered core).

However under the surface, Titan appears to be more like a slightly greater differentiated version of the Jupiter moon Callisto (a Mercury / Ganymede / Titan sized gigantic ball of undifferentiated rock & ice). Titan appears to resemble Callisto rather than Ganymede, to me a huge surprise.

Out of Saturn's moons it looks like only Enceladus & Dione that are fully differentiated!!!!!!! I did expect Titan to join them.

Below. Dione passes in front of Titan's south polar region on: Friday 12th March 2010.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Yes thank you very much EarthlingX.

You are very much welcome. I was just trying to keep this thread warm

Fascinating. It is interesting as Titan appears to display cryovolcanic features such as Genesa Macula (cryoshield volcano) Hotei Arcus (cryovolcanic ice flows), faulting, etc. This would suggest a highly differentiated body like the Jupiter moon Ganymede (the only moon in the solar system known to generate a global magnetosphere & have a dual layered core).

I wonder, what could be possible alternatives to cryovolcanism, based on the evidence ?

However under the surface, Titan appears to be more like a slightly greater differentiated version of the Jupiter moon Callisto (a Mercury / Ganymede / Titan sized gigantic ball of undifferentiated rock & ice). Titan appears to resemble Callisto rather than Ganymede, to me a huge surprise.

Out of Saturn's moons it looks like only Enceladus & Dione that are fully differentiated!!!!!!! I did expect Titan to join them.

Below. Dione passes in front of Titan's south polar region on: Friday 12th March 2010.
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee18 ... Dione1.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee18 ... Dione4.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee18 ... Dione2.jpg

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee18 ... Dione3.jpg

Andrew Brown.

My crude attempt to make animation from your images, please tell me how to improve it, and i will try :

Titan still jumps a bit ..

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

That's pretty good EarthlingX.

Hopefully I will come up with some more matrial soon.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

Titan, refraction ring, part of Cassini's nightside Titan studies, search for lightning, aurorae, aerosols, etc.

Titan, Tuesday 16th March 2010 @ approx 1.9 M KM.

There is some camera noise, hense the white dots in FRONT of Titan. Some may also be cosmic ray strikes on the CCD.

Another cleaner full sized frame I have cropped.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

I mean, i know that's noise, but .. :shock:

Atmosphere looks very nice, and i think some clouds can be seen on the bottom right ?

 

[3488]

Re: Cassini Equinox Mission (Cassini's two year extension).

The 145 KM x 85 KM x 62 KM, Saturn Moon Prometheus. The image with Saturnshine on the left has been rotated correctly. The earlier images from this pass back on 27 January were upside down & I could not really bring out the Saturnshine portion..

Andrew Brown.