Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread Pt. 2

telfrow · Apr 11, 2006

Try this one. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Bright Vortex Gaseous Saturn rotates quickly -- once every approximately 10.8 hours -- and its horizontal cloud bands rotate at different rates relative to each other. These conditions can cause turbulent features in the atmosphere to become greatly stretched and sheared, creating the beautiful patterns that the Cassini spacecraft observes. This turbulence and shear is particularly notable at those boundaries where the different bands slide past each other. Vortices like the one seen here are long-lived dynamical features that are part of the general circulation of Saturn's atmosphere. They are counterparts to the east-west flowing jets and can last for months or years. They probably grow by merging with other vortices until a few dominate a particular shear zone between two jets. This image was taken in polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 7, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 17 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. Link <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>

aaron38 · Apr 11, 2006

I know it takes the filters to really bring out the contrast, but I'd love to see those shots in some sort of color.

telfrow · Apr 12, 2006

Psychedelic Saturn Streamers, swirls and vortices roll across the dynamic face of Saturn. Unlike Earth, where most of the weather is driven by the Sun, Saturn's storms and circulation are driven in part by internal heating. Amazingly, the planet is still contracting (ever so slightly) from its formation, more than 4.5 billion years ago. This gravitational contraction liberates energy in the form of heat. The image was taken in polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 7, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 17 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. Link <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>

llivinglarge · Apr 12, 2006

Dude! Saturn is really trippy! Cassini's mission control should be playing "Aqueous Transmission" all day long...

telfrow · Apr 13, 2006

Cat-Eyed Saturn Bright, high altitude clouds, like those imaged here, often appear more filamentary or streak-like than clouds imaged at slightly deeper levels in Saturn's atmosphere. This view also shows one of the many "cat's eye" vortices that swim through the southern latitudes. The image was taken in polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 7, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 17 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · Apr 13, 2006

Raw Image N00056516.jpg was taken on April 11, 2006 and received on Earth April 13, 2006. The camera was pointing toward SATURN at approximately 4,028,382 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the P120 and CB1 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Link <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 · Apr 13, 2006

Raw Image N00056403.jpg was taken on April 11, 2006 and received on Earth April 13, 2006. The camera was pointing toward IAPETUS at approximately 606,189 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Link <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 · Apr 14, 2006

Crescent Moon with Rings This poetic scene shows the giant, smog-enshrouded moon Titan behind Saturn's nearly edge-on rings. Much smaller Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) is just visible to the left of Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 9, 2006, at a distance of approximately 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Titan. The image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Titan. The brightness of Epimetheus was enhanced for visibility. Link <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 · Apr 17, 2006

Sidelong at Saturn The Cassini spacecraft looks toward the Saturnian horizon as Dione and Janus glide past. A few craters are visible on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across). Janus (181 kilometers, or113 miles across) is slightly blurred due to its motion during the exposure. The rings appear essentially edge-on in this view, as the Cassini spacecraft continues its recent activities close to the ringplane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 10, 2006, using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The image was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · Apr 18, 2006

Raw Image: N00058871.jpg was taken on April 17, 2006 and received on Earth April 17, 2006. The camera was pointing toward DIONE at approximately 3,436,852 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. <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 · Apr 18, 2006

A Complex Crescent The tilted crescent of Saturn displays lacy cloud bands here along with a bright equatorial region and threadlike ring shadows on the northern hemisphere. Three moons are visible here. Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) at left and faint, is aligned with the ringplane. At right are Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across, at top) and Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across, below Rhea). The image was taken in polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 11, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.8 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 166 kilometers (103 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · Apr 19, 2006

Cassini Controllers Overcome Software Glitch NASA mission controllers said Friday that Cassini remains in "an excellent state of health and is operating normally" – although they did encounter a serious software problem last week that required a bit of jury-rigging with the Saturn spacecraft's software. Jet Propulsion Laboratory learned to their surprise that the sequence had used so much of Cassini's memory that it could accommodate only 720 more words of code – not enough to record the entire command. So controllers decided to send the sequence in pieces, and allow the spacecraft to reassemble them after it received the complete message. That approach caused a second and potentially more serious problem, because when controllers attempted to send the transmission piecemeal, they discovered errors in the spacecraft's software prevented it from reconstituting the commands. Worse, controllers found that their additional transmissions would require up to 13,000 words of memory, so failure to solve the problem could have left Cassini crippled. Controllers fixed the problem, however, and have since developed a new technique to send a single code sequence in as many pieces as necessary to accommodate the software limitations. Further analysis showed the software error appeared because of an incompatibility between one of the sequence-transmission directives and the spacecraft's basic software package. Controllers said they definitely have worked around the problem and they do not expect a repeat. Meanwhile, controllers said they have successfully recharged Cassini's hydrazine tank to bring the spacecraft's thrusters up to full capacity in advance of its planned lower-altitude Titan flybys, starting with the one scheduled for July 22. They said they do not expect another recharge will be necessary for at least 10 months. Link<</safety_wrapper> <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 · Apr 19, 2006

Viewing Saturn from the Plane This view of the ringed planet shows its tilt relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. The planet tilts nearly 27 degrees relative to the ecliptic plane, giving rise to seasons in which the rings shadow each hemisphere in its respective winter. Most of the planetary bodies in the Solar System orbit near the plane of the ecliptic, since they formed along with the Sun from a spinning disk of gas and dust. The high phase angle -- the Sun-Saturn-spacecraft viewing angle, which is 116 degrees here -- brings out cloud structure quite nicely. The image was taken in polarized infrared light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 11, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.8 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 165 kilometers (103 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · Apr 20, 2006

Saturn's Storms Run Rings Around Earth's On Saturn, it may be a very long wait for the calm after a storm. As big and destructive as hurricanes on Earth can be, at least they don't last long. Not like those on Saturn, where storms may rage for months or years. Viewed from space, hurricanes on Earth and the huge atmospheric disturbances observed on Saturn look similar. But their differences are greater and offer intriguing insights into the inner workings of the ringed world being investigated by scientists on NASA's Cassini mission. Earth's hurricanes and Saturn's storms each have swirling clouds, convection, rain and strong rotating winds. "Hurricanes on Earth are low pressure centers at the ground and high pressures at the top where the storms flatten out," says Dr. Andrew Ingersoll, member of the Cassini imaging team and professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Storms on Saturn could be like hurricanes if what we're seeing is the top of the clouds." The frequency of storms on Saturn seems to be about the same as on Earth, and the fraction of planet occupied by storms is also similar. Not surprisingly, since Saturn is so much larger than Earth -- nine Earths would fit across its equator--its storms are bigger. Hurricane Katrina stretched more than 380 kilometers (240 miles) across, for example, while two storms the Cassini spacecraft spotted in February 2002 each extend more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) in diameter, about the size of Texas or France. Link <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 · Apr 20, 2006

Worlds in Orbit Three of Saturn's moons are captured with the planet in this exquisite family portrait. At top, Saturn is bedecked with the shadows of its innermost rings. Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) appears at lower right, closest to Cassini. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) and Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) are on the far side of the immense ringed planet. Mimas is just about to slip behind Saturn. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 13, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is about 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Janus and Mimas, and 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel on Tethys. Link <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 · Apr 22, 2006

Raw Image N00059992.jpg was taken on April 21, 2006 and received on Earth April 22, 2006. The camera was pointing toward JANUS at approximately 2,788,706 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Link <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 · Apr 25, 2006

Rotating Flow The bright whorls and small-scale specks of convective clouds drift through a region just north of Saturn's bright equatorial band. Observers have seen major storms develop in this region in the past 15-20 years. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 13, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.6 million kilometers (1.6 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 15 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · Apr 26, 2006

The Enceladus Ring This excellent view of the faint E ring -- a ring feature now known to be created by Enceladus -- also shows two of Saturn's small moons that orbit within the ring, among a field of stars in the background. A labeled version of this view marks the positions of the moons near the left side of the image. (See PIA08164.) The E ring extends from three to eight Saturn radii -- about 180,000 kilometers (118,000 miles) to 482,000 kilometers (300,000 miles). Its full extent is not visible in this view. Calypso (22 kilometers, or 14 miles across) and Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) orbit within the E ring's expanse. Helene skirts the outer parts of the E ring, but here it is projected in front of a region deeper within the ring. Calypso and Helene are trojan satellites, or moons that orbit 60 degrees in front or behind a larger moon. Calypso is a Tethys trojan and Helene is a trojan of Dione. An interesting feature of note in this image is the double-banded appearance of the E-ring, which is created because the ring is somewhat fainter in the ringplane than it is 500-1,000 kilometers (300-600 miles) above and below the ringplane. This appearance implies that the particles in this part of the ring have nonzero inclinations (a similar affect is seen in Jupiter's gossamer ring). An object with a nonzero inclination does not orbit exactly at Saturn's ringplane. Instead, its orbit takes it above and below the ringplane. Scientists are not entirely sure why the particles should have such inclinations, but they are fairly certain that the reason involves Enceladus. One possible explanation is that all the E ring particles come from the plume of icy material that is shooting due south out of the moon's pole. This means all of the particles are created with a certain velocity out of the ringplane, and then they orbit above and below that plane. <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 · Apr 27, 2006

Titan (T13) Viewed by Cassini's Radar Flat Map (Annotated) April 27, 2006 This map of Saturn's moon Titan shows the location of the upcoming April 30, 2006, Titan flyby and the areas mapped so far by the Cassini radar mapper using its synthetic aperture radar imaging mode. Longitudes are labeled at the bottom of the map. The radar swaths are superimposed on a false-color image made from observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The swath shown in light green represents the area to be imaged in the upcoming April 30 flyby. It will go right across an optically bright region of Titan known as Xanadu. See Titan (T13) Viewed by Cassini's Radar for another view of this pass. See Titan (T13) Flat Map for a non-annotated version of this image. The far left image shows the location of the radar swath for the Oct. 28, 2005, flyby. On the top right is the radar swath from the first Titan flyby, on Oct. 26, 2004. The second from the top image is from the second radar pass of Titan, on Feb. 15, 2005 (near-equatorial). The bottom right swath is from the Sept. 7, 2005, flyby. Cassini's radar has revealed a variety of geologic features, including impact craters, wind-blown deposits, channels and cryovolcanic features. Link <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 · Apr 28, 2006

Shifting Northern Hazes The complex and dynamic atmosphere of Titan displays multiple haze layers near the north pole in this view, which also provides an excellent look at the detached stratospheric haze layer that surrounds the moon at lower latitudes. North on Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is up and rotated 20 degrees to the left. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 16, 2006, using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 338 nanometers. The image was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 68 degrees. Image scale is 7 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · Apr 28, 2006

Cassini to Fly by Smog-Cloaked Titan Cassini's powerful radar, which can see through Titan's many haze layers, will image across an optically-bright, continent-size region of Titan known as Xanadu on April 30, 2006. It is unclear whether Xanadu is a mountain range, giant basin, smooth plain, or a combination of all three. Link <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 · Apr 29, 2006

Raw Image N00060226.jpg was taken on April 28, 2006 and received on Earth April 28, 2006. The camera was pointing toward EPIMETHEUS at approximately 667,046 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Link What a shot! <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 · Apr 30, 2006

Raw Image N00060306.jpg was taken on April 29, 2006 and received on Earth April 29, 2006. The camera was pointing toward JANUS at approximately 217,624 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Link <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 · May 1, 2006

Waves and Shear This remarkably detailed view of Saturn's clouds reveals waves at the northern boundary of the bright equatorial zone, presumably associated both with the strong wind shear there and also the difference in density across the boundary with the band to the north. The intense eastward-flowing jet at the equator makes the edges of the equatorial zone among the most strongly sheared on the planet. To the south, two dark ovals embrace, while dark ring shadows blanket the north. The moon Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) occupies a mere two pixels beneath the rings, at right of center. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on March 16, 2006, using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 118 kilometers (73 miles) per pixel. Link <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 · May 2, 2006

Titan April 30 Fly By Photos Posted One of the raw images from the sequence: W00014933.jpg was taken on April 30, 2006 and received on Earth May 01, 2006. The camera was pointing toward TITAN at approximately 55,007 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CB3 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Photo Link <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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