Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread Pt. 2

[telfrow]

<b>Cassini's Close Look at Tethys</b><br /><br />09.26.05 -- Cassini's weekend flyby of Saturn's moon Tethys is providing close-up views of the moon's speckled surface. Raw images are now available. Today, Cassini also has a flyby of the moon Hyperion, a chaotic, tumbling moon. <br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=50062<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>"2-D" Flow</b><br /><br /><i>These two Cassini images taken 23 minutes apart show many vortices and turbulent wakes in Saturn's atmosphere. They also show the overall filamentary structure of the flow in the atmosphere. Many of the narrow cloud streaks that extend and curl over great distances maintain their integrity, rather than mixing with neighboring air parcels. This type of behavior is a characteristic of what scientists call "two-dimensional turbulence".<br /><br />In two-dimensional turbulence, the patterns in flowing fluids, such as the gases in an atmosphere, can behave rather like the patterns seen in a thin, soapy or oily film floating on water. These systems have little relative thickness and involve very different physics than three-dimensional turbulent systems.<br /><br />Contrast in the images was enhanced to aid the visibility of atmospheric features.<br /><br />The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 20, 2005, at a mean distance of approximately 484,000 kilometers (301,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 26 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel.</i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07594.html<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Hyperion pictures are starting to load in the raw image section over at the Cassini/Huygens site!<br /><br />Yippee!<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[backspace]

The Hyperion pictures are interesting. Is that an enormous circular impact crater (only one half remaining) I'm seeing?

 

[CalliArcale]

Hyperion has a really wild surface. I hadn't expected it to look so....well, so spongy. I know it's long been described as such, but it really does like a sea sponge, texture and all. If I'd seen those pictures on a sci-fi movie, I probably would've dismissed them as bad special effects. Wild! Absolutely wild! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

In the upper left corner of the picture is a largish crater, with the black bottom material visible. If you look closely at the upper arc (I can't determine N S E W from the picture, and on a chaotically tumbling object may be meaningless anyway) of the crater bowl, it appears the crater rim has slid down slope and covered part of the dark material!<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[scottb50]

Sort of looks like a target in a shooting gallery. A lot of debris has gone by. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b> Clumps for Encke</b><br /><br /><i>Squinting at this view of Saturn's rings reveals not one but two of the four narrow ringlets in the Encke Gap (325 kilometers, or 200 miles, wide). The innermost of the two ringlets is much brighter and full of clumps.<br /><br />The complicated and dynamic features in the Encke Gap are extensively influenced by the presence of Pan (26 kilometers, or 16 miles, across), which orbits in the center of the gap. The Encke Gap may contain other small moonlets, which imaging team members hope to discover in the future.<br /><br />The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 20, 2005, at a distance of approximately 273,000 kilometers (170,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.</i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07595.html<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[scottb50]

I wonder if the material in the rings is capable of some of the cratering. I would expect being in the vicinity of Saturn makes it a likely target though. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>The In-Between Moons</b><br /><br /><i>Cassini looks up from beneath the ringplane to spot Prometheus and Atlas orbiting between Saturn's A and F rings.<br /><br />Prometheus is 102 kilometers (63 miles) across. Atlas is 20 kilometers (12 miles) across.<br /><br />The F ring displays its characteristic clumps, while scientists are watching diligently for signs of tiny, embedded moons. Prometheus is responsible for some of the clumpy structure in the F ring.<br /><br />The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 28, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.</i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07598.html<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>'Hi-Res' on Tethys - False Color</b><br /><br /><i>This view is among the closest Cassini images of Tethys' icy surface taken during the Sept. 24, 2005 flyby. <br /><br />This false-color image, created with infrared, green and ultraviolet frames, reveals a wide variety of surface colors across this terrain. The presence of this variety at such small scales may indicate a mixture of different surface materials. Tethys was previously known to have color differences on its surface, especially on its trailing side, but this kind of color diversity is new to imaging scientists. For a clear-filter view of this terrain, see http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07736.html. <br /><br />This view is centered on terrain at approximately 4.2 degrees south latitude and 357 degrees west longitude on Tethys. The view has been rotated so that north on Tethys is up. <br /><br />The images for this view were obtained using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at distances ranging from approximately 18,400 to 19,000 kilometers (11,400 to 11,800 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 17 degrees. Image scale is 213 meters (700 feet) per pixel. </i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07737.html<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[thinice]

What's that thin straight structure at the upper left?

 

[telfrow]

I'm sure there are those who will say it's a wall...or a landing strip. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[thinice]

Remembering Martian channels and 'Face on Mars', I'd not say this. Especially taking into account that the picture is in false and very different colors. But nonetheless, it is looking quite unusual. I would like to see this picture in separate colors.

 

[telfrow]

Here's the straight black and white high res version from:<br /> http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07736.html<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>NASA Cassini Image: Flight to Hyperion (Movies)</b><br /><br /><i>This movie sequence shows highlights of Cassini's Sept. 26, 2005, flyby of the odd, icy moon Hyperion, which is 266 kilometers (165 miles) across. <br /><br />The sequence begins with Cassini at a distance of 244,000 kilometers (152,000 miles) from Hyperion, with the irregularly-shaped moon not yet filling the frame. From this distance, Cassini can see that strange, dark-floored craters dot this little world. <br /><br />As Cassini continues toward Hyperion, it becomes apparent that the steep sides of the giant impact feature at the center have a "fluted" appearance. The walls of this feature appear to have experienced landslides that have partly covered the craters lining it. <br /><br />With Cassini at an altitude of 18,000 kilometers (11,000 miles) above Hyperion, the movie then zooms in on the large crater called Meri, which itself contains several smaller craters. The rim of Meri possesses icy outcrops, while its floor is filled with landslide debris and some of the strange, dark material. The image scale at this point is about 215 meters (700 feet) per pixel. <br /><br />Cassini pans across a landscape shaped by eons of impacts, revealing the dark-floored craters at high resolution. The trip to Hyperion ends as the movie pans away from the battered moon's darkened limb.</i><br /><br />http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=18245<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[vogon13]

The 'strange' dark material is the same material seen on Iapetus (and detected on the D-type asteroids) it either is kerogen, or a similarly related material. In the case of Hyperion it seems its' formation is related to temperature. Steep sided crater bowls when illuminated from directly overhead by the distant sun develop a hot spot as the suns rays reflect from the steep crater walls and collect on the crater bottom. This effect can occur all over Hyperion due to its irregular rotation characteristics. The precursor material for the kerogen (or kerogen-like material) is likely to be methane escaped from Titan.<br /><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>Saturnian Meteorology</b><br /><br /><i>There is much to examine in detailed close-ups like this one of Saturn's atmosphere. Scientists are particularly interested in the bright, and in some places turbulent-looking, thin boundary between the large-scale features in the upper half of the image. The characteristic features of this thin boundary might be suggestive of a place where convection is occurring. Convection in Saturn's atmosphere occurs when sufficiently warm air at deeper levels rises to levels where it becomes less dense than the surrounding air.<br /><br />Coverage on Saturn extends here from 18 degrees south to 50 degrees south latitude. Contrast in the image was enhanced to aid the visibility of atmospheric features.<br /><br />The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 19, 2005, at a distance of approximately 487,000 kilometers (302,000 miles) from Saturn using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel.</i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07599.html<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>Flowing "Cat's Eye"</b><br /><br /><i>During its time in orbit, Cassini has spotted many beautiful cat's eye-shaped patterns like the ones visible here. These patterns occur in places where the winds and the atmospheric density at one latitude are different from those at another latitude.<br /><br />The opposing east-west flowing cloud bands are the dominant patterns seen here and elsewhere in Saturn's atmosphere.<br /><br />Contrast in the image was enhanced to aid the visibility of atmospheric features.</i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07600.html<br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[astrophoto]

There's a giant dinosaur skull at the end of that thin line ... must be its spine.<br /><br />Really though, what sort of process could create such a thing, straight line?

 

[telfrow]

I'm not sure, but both those pictures would be awesome in color... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[telfrow]

<b>Drawing the Drapes</b><br /><br /><i>Prometheus poses here with its latest creation: a dark, diagonal gore in the tenuous material interior to Saturn's F ring. The shepherd moon creates a new gore each time it comes closest to the F ring in its orbit of Saturn, and the memory of previous passes is preserved in the rings's structure for some time afterward. Prometheus is 102 kilometers (63 miles) across.<br /><br />The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 20, 2005, at a distance of approximately 499,000 kilometers (310,000 miles) from Saturn and at a high Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 144 degrees. Resolution in the original image was 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.</i><br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07601.html<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[chew_on_this]

Looks like a spoke perhaps?

 

[telfrow]

That's what I thought too - maybe this is the first indication of how the spokes are formed? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[chew_on_this]

sounds reasonable to me.