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

[EarthlingX]

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

:mrgreen: If i refrain from quoting poetry (haiku ?), i can try and say, this images rise high on the awesomeness scale :geek: :mrgreen:

They are humbling, is my next effort .. :roll:

 

[nimbus]

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

Damn.. that's just one moon of one planet in our system. And there's so many others in this neighborhood of the galaxy. Along with the whole Milky Way's worth of systems, and every other galaxy just in the hubble deep field. Imagine all the sights we're not even seeing.

 

[3488]

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

Last August, close to the Kronian Vernal Equinox, Cassini was able to capture the first movie of night time lightning in Saturn's storm tossed cloudtops.

The mega thunderstorm imaged below was approx 3,000 KM long & the movie covers 16 minutes.

First ever movie of Saturn lightning.

Stills.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

Nice show

You made that animated gif ?

 

[abq_farside]

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

Quick chime in. Been out all day & only just got back.

Below I thought was very interesting.

Prometheus passing north of Rhea which in turn was partially obscured in the northern hemisphere by Saturn's rings. Thursday 8th April 2010.

Tomorrow evening, I should be back properly.

Andrew Brown.

That image of Rhea appearing to pass through the rings is amazing. Thanks!

 

[nimbus]

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

Any idea when data/pics from the recent close Titan pass will show up in public?
...
Dang. Cassini flipped out during the Titan pass.

 

[3488]

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

Night side of Saturn, northern hemisphere particularly faintly lit by the rings, captured by Cassini.

Image obtained: Saturday 17th April 2010.

A sharpened enlargement by me.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

I know the word for the last image - cute Moons look like a flock of sheep on a meadow :geek:

What are those dots on the Saturn ? Artefacts ? They make Saturn look like a mirage ..

At least one of them looks like a moon :
( i lost others with my crappy enlargement )

I'm not so much worried about the last Titan pass - we will see much more Titan in the future, since they use it for gravitational assist in orbital adjustment. There was a rather nice Dark Belet image from it anyway, but it was from a bit more out, i think.

Lemme check ... nope, older one, Jan. 15, 2010 :

Behold Belet

On this images they play a game :

http://www.ciclops.org : Peekaboo Rhea , March 8, 2010

Rhea :

Epimetheus :

 

[nimbus]

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

I know the word for the last image - cute Moons look like a flock of sheep on a meadow :geek:

Not Cassini pics, but in the same vein..

I'm not so much worried about the last Titan pass - we will see much more Titan in the future, since they use it for gravitational assist in orbital adjustment.

I was expecting good pics and data from it, because it was reported as second most important in the whole Equinox mission.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

They will be coming close to Titan, maybe not so good, but many times. Nice images, btw

Until then, Hyperion :

Hyperion's South

Myriad shadows cover the pitted surface of Saturn's small moon Hyperion in this Cassini image which shows the moon's south pole on the right.

Just enlarged, i'm not too good with image sharpening :

There will be Enceladus fly-by in 24 hours - i would call this 'close' :

Cassini Measures Tug of Enceladus

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be gliding low over Saturn's moon Enceladus for a gravity experiment designed to probe the moon's interior composition. The flyby, which will take Cassini through the water-rich plume flaring out from Enceladus's south polar region, will occur on April 27 Pacific time and April 28 UTC. At closest approach, Cassini will be flying about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the moon's surface.

On this flyby, the Cassini Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) tracks Enceladus through a close pass to determine the nature of the interior beneath the south polar hot spot.

Cassini's scientists plan to use the radio science instrument to measure the gravitational pull of Enceladus against the steady radio link to NASA's Deep Space Network on Earth. Detecting any wiggle will help scientists understand what is under the famous "tiger stripe" fractures that spew water vapor and organic particles from the south polar region. Is it an ocean, a pond or a great salt lake?

 

[EarthlingX]

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

http://www.theregister.co.uk : 'Snowmageddon' on Saturn snapped by amateur stargazers

By Lewis Page

30th April 2010 10:13 GMT

A tip-off from an amateur astronomer has enabled top planet-gazing boffins to probe a fearful ammonia snowstorm deep in the roiling atmosphere of Saturn, ringed giant world of the outer solar system.

Cassini happened to be looking in the right place to catch this one.

One of the latest (Mar - Apr 2010) :

http://www.ciclops.org : Crescent at Equinox

Cassini looks down and pictures Saturn wrapped in a pencil-thin shadow of the rings just days after the planet's August 2009 equinox.



The moon Epimetheus is not shown here, but it is casting a tiny shadow on the planet above the rings. The moon Enceladus (504 kilometers, 313 miles across) is faintly visible in the far top right of the image.

Shadow zoom :

http://www.ciclops.org : Shadows from the Waves

Shadows are cast by Daphnis and the moon's attendant edge waves in this Cassini image taken about a month and a half before the Saturn's August 2009 equinox.

Daphnis (8 kilometers, 5 miles across) appears as a tiny bright dot in the Keeler Gap of the A ring near the center of the image. The moon has an inclined orbit and its gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring forming the Keeler Gap's edge and sculpts the edge into waves having both horizontal (radial) and out-of-plane components. Material on the inner edge of the gap orbits faster than the moon so that the waves there lead the moon in its orbit. Material on the outer edge moves slower than the moon, so waves there trail the moon. See PIA11656 to learn more about this process.

 

[3488]

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

EXCELLENT POST EarthlingX.

Thank you very, very much. Dunno how I missed that!!!!! :shock:

Related to your excllent post.

Cassini Infrared & Methane Filter images. I have rotated them so north is top, west is left. Done nothing else to them.

Enlarged, sharpened crop of Enceladus, taken: Monday 26the April 2010. THe crescent is in sunlight, most of the rest including the south polar geysers are in Saturnshine. As the Kronian system slowly moves into late Spring, post Vernal Equinox, the south polar regions on all major Kronian system bodies are slowly slipping into their antarctic nights. Will beinteresting to see what happens to these geysers over the coming months & years.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

www.jpl.nasa.gov : Cassini Returning Enceladus Gravity Data

April 30, 2010

NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its 26-hour gravity observation at Saturn's moon Enceladus this week, sending back data scientists will use to understand the moon's interior composition and structure.

The flyby took Cassini through the water-rich plume flaring out from Enceladus' south polar region, with a closest approach of about 100 kilometers (60 miles) occurring in the late afternoon of April 27, 2010, Pacific Time, or just after midnight April 28 UTC.

NASA's Casini spacecraft obtained this raw image of Enceladus on April 26, 2010.
Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

 

[3488]

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

Thanks again EarthlingX.

That image is quite something. I think you used the slightly longer exposed Clear image one. I used one of the similar slightly darker ones as they are easier to work with regarding contrast, enlargements, sharpeneing & brilliance.

The gravity data from this pass should revel how assymetric the core of Enceladus is. The close North polar pass in July (IIRC) will give us the first ever high resolution imagery (SKEET technique is to be used) & gravity data from the geysers antipode. Should be fascinating.

Whilst the north polar region on Enceladus is more primitive, cratered & appears inactive, it is crucial to help us understand Enceladus properly.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

This is what i did :
- download tif images (da biggestest)
- cut out what is there to cut, or zoom
- paste as a new image
- image resize, use Sinc (Lanczos3) algorithm, to less than 700 px width, so it fits in the forum.

It works the best, much better than anything else. Example, from jpg, since there was no tif :

Nice clouds you found Was it there where the storm was ?

 

[3488]

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

Hi EarthlingX, I usually save the originals as BMPs, do what ever I do then resave as high quality JPGs.

Saturn Methane & IR. Monday 26th April 2010.

Contrast enhanced.

Two storms near limb. Sharpened enlarged crop.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

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

Dione passes in front of Tethys.

Friday 26th March 2010. Trailing hemispheres of both moons are sunlit. Even in a shot such as this, it is clear that Dione is highly evolved & Tethys is primitive.

Andrew Brown.

 

[3488]

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

Saturn's third largest moon, the 1,471 KM wide Iapetus in cresent phase from 1.437 Million KM on Wednesday 5th May 2010.

Image is an enlarged, sharpened, rotated crop.

Ansrew Brown.

 

[3488]

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

395 KM wide Mimas above the rings in front of Saturn. Saturday 8th May 2010.

Saturn's third largest moon, the 1,471 KM wide Iapetus in cresent phase from 1.265 Million KM on Friday 7th May 2010.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

I skipped plenty of very nice images (Aaaandreeeew .. !!!), but i can't skip this :

http://www.ciclops.org : The Enceladus Atlas

Presented here is a complete set of cartographic map sheets from a high-resolution Enceladus atlas, a project of the Cassini Imaging Team.

The map sheets form a 15-quadrangle series covering the entire surface of Enceladus at a nominal scale of 1:500,000. An index for the atlas is included here, along with an unlabeled version of each terrain section. The map data was acquired by the Cassini imaging experiment. The mean radius of Enceladus used for projection of the maps is 252.1 kilometers (156.6 miles). Names for features have been approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

This atlas is an update to the version released in December 2008 (see PIA08419). Like other recent Enceladus maps, the final controlled mosaic was shifted by 3.5 degrees to the west, compared to 2006 versions, to be consistent with the International Astronomical Union longitude definition for Enceladus.

Also :

saturn.jpl.nasa.gov : Cassini Double Play: Enceladus and Titan

May. 17, 2010

About a month and a half after its last double flyby, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be turning another double play this week, visiting the geyser moon Enceladus and the hazy moon Titan. The alignment of the moons means that Cassini can catch glimpses of these two contrasting worlds within less than 48 hours, with no maneuver in between.

Cassini will make its closest approach to Enceladus late at night on May 17 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 18 UTC. The spacecraft will pass within about 435 kilometers (270 miles) of the moon's surface.

The second of Cassini's two flybys is an encounter with Titan. The closest approach will take place in the late evening May 19 Pacific time, which is in the early hours of May 20 UTC. The spacecraft will fly to within 1,400 kilometers (750 miles) of the surface.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

http://www.ciclops.org : Enceladus Rev 131 Flyby Raw Preview

These raw, unprocessed images were taken during Cassini's close flyby of Enceladus on May 17 and 18, 2010.

and more.

 

[3488]

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

On Saturday 22nd May 2010, Cassini took further long exposure observations of Saturn's third largest moon Iapetus from 3.6 million KM, to search for dust from the gigantic tenuous outer ring depositing on the large icy moon or even for any dust rings that Iapetus itself may have (much like those thought to exist around Rhea).

The streaked stars in the background are within the constellation of Coma Berenice, close to the border of Virgo.

Andrew Brown.

 

[EarthlingX]

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

http://www.ciclops.org : Rings, Rhea and Janus

Saturn's rings occupy the foreground of this image showing the small moon Janus above the rings and the planet's second largest moon, Rhea, partially obscured by the rings.

Janus is beyond the rings at a distance of about 1.1 million kilometers (684,000 miles) from Cassini. Rhea is 1.6 million kilometers (994,000 miles) from the spacecraft. This view looks toward the trailing hemisphere of Janus (179 kilometers, 111 miles across) and the Saturn-facing side of Rhea (1528 kilometers, 949 miles across).

This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 8, 2010. Image scale is 7 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel on Janus and 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel on Rhea.

 

[EarthlingX]

saturn.jpl.nasa.gov : Odysseus in Profile

May 31, 2010

Tethys' huge Odysseus Crater is brightly lit in the northern latitudes of this Saturnian moon in this Cassini spacecraft view.

The crater is seen almost edge-on in the upper left of the image. See The Great Basin for a closer view of this crater. Lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemisphere of Tethys (1,062 kilometers, or 660 miles across). North on Tethys is up and rotated 1 degree to the left.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 9, 2010. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 75 degrees. Image scale is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

 

[EarthlingX]

Fresh raw images :

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/?start=1&storedQ=2233046

N00154189.jpg was taken on May 23, 2010 and received on Earth May 24, 2010. The camera was pointing toward TITAN at approximately 1,719,330 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CB3 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/?start=5&storedQ=2233046