Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread Pt. 2

telfrow · Nov 24, 2005

At Carthage Linea Dione's icy surface is scarred by craters and sliced up by multiple generations of geologically-young bright fractures. Numerous fine, roughly-parallel linear grooves run across the terrain in the upper left corner. Most of the craters seen here have bright walls and dark deposits of material on their floors. As on other Saturnian moons, rockslides on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) may reveal cleaner ice, while the darker materials accumulate in areas of lower topography and lower slope (e.g. crater floors and the bases of scarps). The terrain seen here is centered at 15.4 degrees north latitude, 330.3 degrees west longitude, in a region called Carthage Linea. North on Dione is up and rotated 50 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini narrow-angle camera on Oct. 11, 2005, at a distance of approximately 19,600 kilometers (12,200 miles) from Dione. The image scale is about 230 meters (760 feet) per pixel. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07638.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Nov 25, 2005

Herschel Sees the Sun Impact-battered Mimas steps in front of Saturn's rings, showing off its giant 130-kilometer (80-mile) wide crater Herschel. The illuminated terrain seen here is on the moon's leading hemisphere. North on Mimas is up and rotated 20 degrees to the left. Mimas is 397 kilometers (247 miles) across. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini narrow-angle camera on Oct. 13, 2005 at a distance of approximately 711,000 kilometers (442,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 112 degrees. The image scale is 4 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07639.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

Leovinus · Nov 25, 2005

Cassini is half science and half art. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

telfrow · Nov 25, 2005

Isn't that the truth? The images are breathtaking. Simply magnificent. Some of them should be hanging in museums.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

chew_on_this · Nov 28, 2005

See the Fountains of Enceladus in space science and astronomy. Incredible discovery. I couldn't be more happy!

scottb50 · Nov 28, 2005

Robert Roy Britt Senior Science Writer SPACE.com Mon Nov 28,11:00 AM ET Ever since Voyager 1 returned detailed images of Saturn's F ring back in 1980, astronomers have struggled to understand its bizarre features. The F ring, an outer thin wisp of icy material orbiting the giant planet, was discovered in 1979. It's been described as having clumps, strands and braids by various research groups. An animation released in December showed the features, described as kinks, moving through time. Turns out none of these descriptions was right, according to a new study using data and images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and led by Sebastien Charnoz at the University of Paris. "These strands, initially interpreted as concentric ring segments, are in fact connected and form a single one-arm trailing spiral winding at least three times around Saturn," Charnoz and colleagues write in the Nov. 25 issue of the journal Science. The concept is best explained in an artist's conception. Charnoz team made computer simulations to explore the spiral's origin. The new explanation raises more questions than it answers. "The newly reported spiral is in a class by itself," says Mark Showalter, a SETI Institute researcher who wrote an analysis of the discovery for Science. And it is changing rapidly. The spiral wound itself tighter between November 2004 and May 2005, the Cassini observations show. It will continue to tighten until the strands blend into a more uniform feature, Showalter said. Prometheus and Pandora, near the F ring, have long been seen as playing a shepherding role, keeping ring particles together and tugging out the curious features. But their role is likely more disruptive than shepherding, Showalter now says. Charnoz and colleagues say a recently discovered small moon catalogued as S/2004 S6 is involved. This moonlet -- or it may be just a tight clump of material <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

telfrow · Nov 29, 2005

Titan resembles primitive Earth Astronomers say Saturn's largest moon, Titan, resembles a primitive Earth, complete with weather systems and geological activity. The data came from the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which landed on Titan Jan. 14, providing the first direct measurements from the moon. Among the discoveries the ESA announced Tuesday: -- Francesca Ferri and colleagues at Italy's University of Padova measured the temperature and pressure of Titan from the top of its atmosphere to the surface, which is a chilly minus -354 degrees Fahrenheit (-179 degrees Celsius). Ferri said Titan's atmosphere is divided into distinct layers, and lightning was observed. -- Michael Bird and colleagues at the University of Bonn found Titan's winds blow in the same direction as the moon rotates, and close to the surface are at walking speed. -- Marty Tomasko and colleagues at the University of Arizona described the dry riverbed and drainage channels seen during Huygens' descent -- evidence that liquid methane falls as rain or erupts from cryovolcanoes, periodically flooding the surface. The research appears at the Web site of the journal Nature. http://www.physorg.com/news8563.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

centsworth_II · Nov 30, 2005

Huygens/Mars Express Orbiter News Briefing on NASA TV: http://www1.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html "The programs listed below are changes to the general NASA Television schedule. All times are Eastern U.S. time. November 30, Wednesday 10 a.m. - Huygens/Mars Express Orbiter News Briefing - ESA/HQ (Interactive News Conference)" <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

scottb50 · Nov 30, 2005

The basic rules stay the same, only the scale changes. Saturn is a smaller version of the Sun, it accumulated enough mass, from the Suns disc to almost be a star, but missed it,,, by this much. At some point the Solar system resembled Saturn, just a bigger version. Planets accreated from the rings. I would think, whatever conditions exist on Earth would be relevant to Titan or anywhere. The basic laws of Gravity seem to exist and all. If you have a surface and liquid rain it should look pretty much the way it does. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

telfrow · Nov 30, 2005

Huygens Results Announced 11-30-5 http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Results_from_Mars_Express_and_Huygens/SEMSCVULWFE_0_ov.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 1, 2005

G Ring Aglow Saturn's G ring glows like a neon garland in this lovely narrow angle camera image from Cassini. The comparison between the diffuse outer boundary and the sharp inner edge of this ring, which consists of fine, dust-sized icy particles, is particularly noteworthy. Close Cassini views such as this should provide ring scientists with clues about how this ring is produced and confined. The G ring extends from 166,000 to 173,200 kilometers (103,100 to 107,600 miles) from Saturn's center. (Saturn is 120,500 kilometers [74,900 miles] wide at its equator.) The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini narrow-angle camera on Oct. 24, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 12 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07643.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 1, 2005

The photo... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 2, 2005

When Moons Align In a rare moment, the Cassini spacecraft captured this enduring portrait of a near-alignment of four of Saturn's restless moons. Timing is critical when trying to capture a view of multiple bodies, like this one. All four of the moons seen here were on the far side of the rings from the spacecraft when this image was taken; and about an hour later, all four had disappeared behind Saturn. Seen here are Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) and Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) at bottom; Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) hugs the rings at center; Telesto (24 kilometers, or 15 miles across) is a mere speck in the darkness above center. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini narrow-angle camera on Oct. 17, 2005 at a distance of approximately 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles) from Dione and 2.5 million kilometers (1.6 miles) from Titan. The image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Dione and 21 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel on Titan. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07644.html Science - or art? Or both?<img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 2, 2005

Bright Highlands and Dark Plains This is a perspective view of the surface of Saturn's moon Titan near the Huygens probe landing site that includes the bright-dark boundary between the bright highlands and lower dark plains. This provides stereo coverage with a resolution of about 50 feet per pixel (roughly 15 meters) and a convergence angle of approximately 15 degrees. The perspective image is color-coded in altitude with blue lowest and red highest. The total relief is approximately 500 feet (roughly 150 meters) and the area covered is about 0.6 by 2 miles (1 by 3 kilometers). The valleys exhibiting dark drainages in the brighter higher, terrains have steep sides ranging up to approximately 30 degrees. A stereo pair of images (insert) was acquired from the Huygens descent imager/spectral radiometer. The left image was acquired from 9 miles (14.8 kilometers) above the surface with the high resolution imager; the right from 4 miles (6.7 kilometers) altitude with the medium resolution imager. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia06441.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 2, 2005

Dark Plains on Titan This perspective view shows dark plains on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan about 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the Huygens probe landing site. In this area many discrete bright feature are scattered across the dark plains. This provides stereo coverage with a resolution of about 45 feet per pixel (about 14 meters) and a convergence angle of about 6 degrees. The perspective image is color-coded in altitude with blue lowest and red highest. The ridges in the center of the view are about 150 feet-high (roughly 50 meters); the area covered is about 1.6 miles by 1.6 miles (2.5 by 2.5 kilometers). The topographic features toward the bottom right part of the view are suggestive of flow and erosion by fluids on the surface. A stereo pair of images (insert) was acquired from the Huygens descent imager/spectral radiometer. The left image was acquired from 8 miles (12.2 kilometers) above the surface with the high resolution imager; the right from 4 miles (6.9 kilometers) altitude with the medium resolution imager. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia06442.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

scottb50 · Dec 2, 2005

It suggests to me the flat blue is liquid. An upper lake draining into a lower body. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

telfrow · Dec 6, 2005

Iapetus Spins and Tilts Saturn's two-faced moon tilts and rotates for Cassini in this mesmerizing movie sequence of images acquired during the spacecraft's close encounter with Iapetus on Nov. 12, 2005. The encounter begins with Cassini about 850,000 kilometers (530,000 miles) from Iapetus. Cassini approached over the moon's northern hemisphere, allowing for excellent full views of a 575-kilometer-wide (360-mile) impact basin in northeastern Cassini Regio. Astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered the light and dark faces of Iapetus' two hemispheres (among his other Saturn discoveries), and the dark region. The spacecraft also bears his name. Full story at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07766.html Movie can be found at: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/animation/PIA07766 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 7, 2005

Catch that Crater In the nick of time, the Cassini spacecraft snapped this image of the eastern rim of Saturn’s moon Rhea's bright, ray crater. The impact event appears to have made a prominent bright splotch on the leading hemisphere of Rhea (see PIA06648). Because Cassini was traveling so fast relative to Rhea as the flyby occurred, the crater would have been out of the camera's field of view in any earlier or later exposure. The crater's total diameter is about 50 kilometers (30 miles), but this rim view shows details of terrains both interior to the crater and outside its rim. The prominent bright scarp, left of the center, is the crater wall, and the crater interior is to the left of the scarp. The exterior of the crater (right of the scarp) is characterized by softly undulating topography and gentle swirl-like patterns that formed during the emplacement of the large crater's continuous blanket of ejecta material. Numerous small craters conspicuously pepper the larger crater's floor and much of the area immediately outside of it. However, in some places, such as terrain in the top portion of the image and the bright crater wall, the terrain appears remarkably free of the small impacts. The localized "shot pattern" and non-uniform distribution of these small craters indicate that they are most likely secondary impacts -- craters formed from fallback material excavated from a nearby primary impact site. Because they exist both inside and outside the large crater in this image, the source impact of the secondary impacts must have happened more recently than the impact event that formed the large crater in this scene. This is one of the highest-resolution images of Rhea's surface obtained during Cassini's very close flyby on Nov. 26, 2005, during which the spacecraft swooped to within 500 kilometers (310 miles) of the large moon. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across and is Saturn's second largest moon, after p <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 7, 2005

Color Variation on Hyperion Saturn's moon Hyperion's crater, Meri, blooms in this extreme color-enhanced view. Meri is overprinted by a couple of smaller craters and displays dark material on its floor that is characteristic of many impact sites on this moon. The walls of craters seen here are noticeably smoother on their sloping sides than around their craggy rims. This crater is also visible at lower right in the large Hyperion mosaic (see PIA07761). To create this false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single black and white picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superimposed over a clear-filter image. The combination of color map and brightness image shows how the colors vary across the moon's surface in relation to geologic features. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy soil. The images used to create this false-color view were acquired on Sept. 26, 2005, at a mean distance of 17,900 kilometers (11,100 miles) from Hyperion. Image scale is about 110 meters (360 feet) per pixel. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07768.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 7, 2005

Photo for above: <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 7, 2005

Color Variation Across Rhea and Dione Saturn's cratered, icy moons, Rhea and Dione, come alive with vibrant color that reveals new information about their surface properties. To create these false-color views, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single black and white picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superimposed over a clear-filter image of each moon. The combination of color map and brightness image shows how the colors vary across the moon's surface in relation to geologic features. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy soil. The Rhea view is a two-image mosaic. Images in the mosaic were acquired on Aug. 1, 2005, at a mean distance of 214,700 kilometers (133,400 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 88 degrees. Image scale is 1.3 kilometers (0.8 miles) per pixel. The mosaic shows terrain on the trailing hemisphere of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), and is centered on 42 degrees south latitude. North is up and rotated 28 degrees to the left. Images in the Dione false-color view were acquired on Aug. 1, 2005, at a mean distance of 267,600 kilometers (166,300 miles) from Dione. Image scale is 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel. The image shows terrain on the trailing hemisphere of Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across), and is centered on 41 degrees south latitude. North is up. The images have not been scaled to show the moons' proper relative sizes. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07769.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 12, 2005

Movement in the Shadows A gorgeous close-up look at the Saturnian atmosphere reveals small, bright and puffy clouds with long filamentary streamers that are reminiscent of the anvil-shaped Earthly cirrus clouds that extend downwind of thunderstorms. Dark ring shadows hang over the scene while the planet rotates beneath. The image was taken in infrared light (939 nanometers) with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Oct. 29, 2005, at a distance of approximately 388,000 kilometers (241,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 20 kilometers (12 miles) per pixel. The image was contrast enhanced to improve visibility of features in the atmosphere. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07650.html Wow! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 12, 2005

Pandora on a string This dramatic image from the Cassini spacecraft shows Saturn's craggy moon Pandora skimming along the F ring's outer edge. Pandora orbits about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) exterior to the ring, but in this view is projected onto the ring. The moderately high-resolution of the image reveals the moonlet's odd shape. Pandora is 84 kilometers (52 miles) across. The image was acquired from less than a degree below the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 455,000 kilometers (283,000 miles) from Pandora. The image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/051212pandora.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 13, 2005

On the Edge Viewing Saturn's rings very close to edge-on produces some puzzling effects, as these two images of the F ring demonstrate. The upper image was acquired from less than a tenth of a degree beneath the ringplane and shows a mysterious bulge. Such a feature has not been seen previously by the Cassini spacecraft from this angle. It is possible that, because of the very shallow viewing angle, the Cassini spacecraft's view takes a long path through the ring, making very faint material visible. It also may be that an embedded object of a kilometer or so in size stirs up the neighboring ring particles to create a bulge. Alternatively, an impact into an embedded moonlet that was covered with debris could produce a cloud like this. Images taken by the Voyager spacecrafts showed clumps that might have been produced in these ways. Cassini's investigations will help to determine the vertical extent of such clumps and understand their origins. The lower image was obtained from less than a hundredth of a degree beneath the ringplane. Across the center of the rings is a dark lane, giving them an appearance not unlike that of a spiral galaxy, seen edge-on. Both images were taken using the clear spectral filters (predominantly visible light) on the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The images have been magnified by a factor of two. The top image was obtained at a distance of 3.6 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Saturn on Nov. 11, 2005 and shows wispy fractures on Dione's trailing hemisphere. The image scale is 22 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel. The bottom image was acquired at a distance of 2.5 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn on Nov. 5, 2005. The image scale is 15 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07651.html <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

telfrow · Dec 13, 2005

It's been mentioned in this thread that Cassini's photos are as much art as science. Here, IMHO, is yet another example of the fact they are, indeed, both. Caption: W00012429.jpg was taken on December 12, 2005 and received on Earth December 12, 2005. The camera was pointing toward ATLAS at approximately 3,107,674 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=58458 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread Pt. 2

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