Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread Pt. 2

Leovinus · May 31, 2006

Rhea's crater-saturated surface shows a large bright blotch, which was likely created when a geologically recent impact sprayed bright, fresh ice ejecta over the moon's surface. The rim of the great Tirawa impact basin can be seen near the top of the image. The giant feature is approximately 360 kilometers (220 miles) across. This equatorial view captures Rhea's leading hemisphere. North is up and rotated 40 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2006 at a distance of approximately 481,000 kilometers (299,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 23 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

telfrow · May 31, 2006

NASA-funded Study Says Saturn's Moon Enceladus Rolled Over Saturn's moon Enceladus -- an active, icy world with an unusually warm south pole -- may have performed an unusual trick for a planetary body. New research shows Enceladus rolled over, literally, explaining why the moon's hottest spot is at the south pole. Enceladus recently grabbed scientists' attention when the Cassini spacecraft observed icy jets and plumes indicating active geysers spewing from the tiny moon's south polar region. "The mystery we set out to explain was how the hot spot could end up at the pole if it didn't start there," said Francis Nimmo, assistant professor of Earth sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz. The researchers propose the reorientation of the moon was driven by warm, low-density material rising to the surface from within Enceladus. A similar process may have happened on Uranus' moon Miranda, they said. Their findings are in this week's journal Nature. "It's astounding that Cassini found a region of current geological activity on an icy moon that we would expect to be frigidly cold, especially down at this moon's equivalent of Antarctica," said Robert Pappalardo, co-author and planetary scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "We think the moon rolled over to put a deeply seated warm, active area there." Pappalardo worked on the study while at the University of Colorado. Complete Story <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 · Jun 3, 2006

Raw Image N00062233.jpg was taken on June 02, 2006 and received on Earth June 03, 2006. The camera was pointing toward TITAN at approximately 2,337,867 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 · Jun 3, 2006

Science or Art? Raw Image W00015511.jpg was taken on May 24, 2006 and received on Earth May 25, 2006. The camera was pointing toward SATURN at approximately 1,286,119 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CB3 and IRP90 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>

aerogi · Jun 6, 2006

when they say 'much hotter', how 'warm' is it really up there at the South Pole? I suppose it is still freezingly cold?

3488 · Jun 21, 2006

I understand that the surface of Enceladus at the South Pole could be as warm as Minus 143 Celsius (130 Kelvin, about the same as Callisto in the Jupiter system). For the Saturn system this is tropical!!! The average for the rest of Enceladus is about minus 200 Celcius (73 Kelvin) as Enceladus has almost 100% reflectivity, the shiniest object known in our Solar System. Quite like this view taken on Thursday 14th July 2005 from 111,778 kilometres (69,414 miles) away. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

telfrow · Jun 26, 2006

Moons of Interest Wrinkled and cracked Enceladus hangs in the distance as the pitted ring moon Janus, at right, rounds the outer edge of the F ring. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) is remarkable for its actively venting south polar region, while Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) is known for its orbital swap with the moon Epimetheus. The bright core of the F ring is perhaps 50 kilometers wide and contains numerous clumps and kinks. Dimmer, flanking ringlets on either side of the core wind into a tight spiral structure, discovered in Cassini images. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 21, 2006 at a distance of approximately 565,000 kilometers (351,000 miles) from Janus, 702,000 kilometers (436,000 miles) from Enceladus and 530,000 kilometers (329,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Janus and 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Enceladus. <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>

3488 · Jun 28, 2006

Few sights in the solar system are more strikingly beautiful than softly hued Saturn embraced by the shadows of its stately rings. The gas planet's subtle northward gradation from gold to azure is a striking visual effect that scientists don't fully understand. Current thinking says that it may be related to seasonal influences, tied to the cold temperatures in the northern (winter) hemisphere. Despite Cassini's revelations, Saturn remains a world of mystery. Currently, the rings' shadows shield the mid-northern latitudes from the harshest of the sun's rays. As Saturn travels around the sun in its 29-year orbit, the shadows will narrow and head southward, eventually blanketing the opposite hemisphere. Images taken with blue, green and red spectral filters were used to create this color view, which approximates the scene as it would appear to the human eye. The view was brightened to enhance detail visible in the rings and within their shadows. The images were obtained with the Cassini wide-angle camera from a distance of approximately 999,000 kilometers (621,000 miles) from Saturn on May 4, 2005, as the spacecraft cruised a few degrees above the ring plane. The image scale is about 60 kilometers (37 miles) per pixel on Saturn. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ci</safety_wrapper <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

3488 · Jun 28, 2006

This magnified view shows tiny Polydeuces, a moon that was discovered by the Cassini spacecraft and is a mere 3 kilometers (2 miles) across. Along with much larger Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across), Polydeuces orbits Saturn at the same distance as large, icy Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across). Because this body was only recently discovered and is so small, scientists presently know precious little about it. Further observations by Cassini may yield additional insights about its nature and composition. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 22, 2006 at a distance of approximately 73,000 kilometers (45,000 miles) from Polydeuces and at a Sun-Polydeuces-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 41 degrees. The image was obtained using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. Scale in the original image was 434 meters (1,423 feet) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of four and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

rhodan · Jun 28, 2006

Yesterday's APOD was pretty cool:<ul type="square">The Moving Moons of Saturn Explanation: The moons of Saturn never stop. A space traveler orbiting the ringed giant planet would witness a continuing silent dance where Saturn's multiple moons pass near each other in numerous combinations. Like a miniature Solar System, the innermost moons orbit Saturn the fastest. The above movie was centered on Saturn's moon Rhea, so that the moons Mimas and Enceladus appear to glide by. At 1,500 kilometers across, Rhea is over three times larger than the comparably sized Mimas and Enceladus. The Sun illuminates the scene from the lower right, giving all of the moons the same crescent phase. The above time lapse movie was created by the Saturn-orbiting robotic Cassini spacecraft over a period of about 40 minutes.</ul>Click this link to see the moving moons of Saturn.

telfrow · Jul 10, 2006

The Moons Are the Stars July 7, 2006 The real jewels of Saturn are arguably its stunning collection of icy moons. Seen here with the unlit side of the rings are Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across at right), Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across at left) and Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across at center) with its fountain-like geysers. The faint, vertical banding in the image is due to "noise" in the spacecraft electronics. This noise is difficult to remove from an image that has a very wide dynamic range--i.e., a wide range of brightness levels--as in the difference between gleaming Titan and the faint plumes of Enceladus. Additionally, a reflection of Titan's light within the camera optics is likely responsible for the faint secondary image of Titan's limb to the left of the giant moon. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus, 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan and 4.4 million kilometers (2.7 million miles) from Tethys. The Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 160 degrees on Enceladus. Image scale is 23 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Enceladus, 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan and 26 kilometers (16 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 · Jul 10, 2006

Raw Image N00063615.jpg was taken on July 08, 2006 and received on Earth July 09, 2006. The camera was pointing toward RHEA at approximately 2,242,174 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Link The entire sequence of photos in this series can be found here. <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 · Jul 13, 2006

Art or Science? Rings Occulting Titan July 12, 2006 Titan shines beyond the rings like a brilliant ring of fire, its light gleaming here and there through the gaps in Saturn's magnificent plane of ice. Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is surrounded by a thick photochemical haze which scatters the Sun's light. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 158 degrees. Image scale is 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. 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 · Jul 13, 2006

Light from Many Paths July 13, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08220 The unlit side of the rings glows with scattered sunlight as two moons circle giant Saturn. The light reaching Cassini in this view has traveled many paths before being captured. At left, Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) presents its dark side. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across), on the far side of the rings, is lit by "Saturnshine," or reflected sunlight coming from the planet. Saturn, in turn, is faintly lit in the south by light reflecting off the rings. Saturn's shadow darkens the rings, tapering off toward the left side of this view. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Mimas, 4.3 kilometers (2.7 miles) from Enceladus and 4.1 million kilometers (2.6 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Saturn. 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 · Jul 14, 2006

Titan's Kiss July 14, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08221 Saturn's two largest moons meet in the sky in a rare embrace. Smog-enshrouded Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) glows to the left of airless Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.6 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Rhea and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. The Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 157 degrees on Rhea. Image scale is 22 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. 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 · Jul 19, 2006

Cassini's July 22nd Titan Flyby: The Search for Lakes Continues <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 · Jul 20, 2006

Cassini Reveals Titan's Xanadu Region To Be an Earth-like Land July 19, 2006 New radar images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed geological features similar to Earth on Xanadu, an Australia-sized, bright region on Saturn's moon Titan. These radar images, from a strip more than 4,500 kilometers (2,796 miles) long, show Xanadu is surrounded by darker terrain, reminiscent of a free-standing landmass. At the region's western edge, dark sand dunes give way to land cut by river networks, hills and valleys. These narrow river networks flow onto darker areas, which may be lakes. A crater formed by the impact of an asteroid or by water volcanism is also visible. More channels snake through the eastern part of Xanadu, ending on a dark plain where dunes, abundant elsewhere, seem absent. Appalachian-sized mountains crisscross the region. "We could only speculate about the nature of this mysterious bright country, too far from us for details to be revealed by Earth-based and space-based telescopes. Now, under Cassini's powerful radar eyes, facts are replacing speculation," said Dr. Jonathan Lunine, Cassini interdisciplinary scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "Surprisingly, this cold, faraway region has geological features remarkably like Earth." Photo Caption: This image of Titan was acquired on April 30, 2006, by Cassini's radar instrument in synthetic-aperture mode over the continent-sized region called Xanadu. 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 · Jul 25, 2006

Lakes on Titan July 24, 2006 The Cassini spacecraft, using its radar system, has discovered very strong evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Dark patches, which resemble terrestrial lakes, seem to be sprinkled all over the high latitudes surrounding Titan's north pole. Scientists have speculated that liquid methane or ethane might form lakes on Titan, particularly near the somewhat colder polar regions. In the images, a variety of dark patches, some with channels leading in or out of them, appear. The channels have a shape that strongly implies they were carved by liquid. Some of the dark patches and connecting channels are completely black, that is, they reflect back essentially no radar signal, and hence must be extremely smooth. In some cases rims can be seen around the dark patches, suggesting deposits that might form as liquid evaporates. The abundant methane in Titan's atmosphere is stable as a liquid under Titan conditions, as is its abundant chemical product, ethane, but liquid water is not. For all these reasons, scientists interpret the dark areas as lakes of liquid methane or ethane, making Titan the only body in the solar system besides Earth known to possess lakes. Because such lakes may wax and wane over time, and winds may alter the roughness of their surfaces. Repeat coverage of these areas should test whether indeed these are bodies of liquid. These two radar images were acquired by the Cassini radar instrument in synthetic aperture mode on July 21, 2006. The top image centered near 80 degrees north, 92 degrees west measures about 420 kilometers by 150 kilometers (260 miles by 93 miles). The lower image centered near 78 degrees north, 18 degrees west measures about 475 kilometers by 150 kilometers (295 miles by 93 miles). Smallest details in this image are about 500 meters (1,640 feet) across. <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 · Jul 25, 2006

Titan's pebbles 'seen' by Huygens radio 25 July 2006 An unexpected radio reflection from the surface of Titan has allowed ESA scientists to deduce the average size of stones and pebbles close to the Huygens’ landing site. The technique could be used on other lander missions to analyse planetary surfaces for free. When Huygens came to rest on the surface of Titan on 14 January 2005, it survived the impact and continued to transmit to the Cassini mothership, orbiting above. Part of that radio signal 'leaked' downwards and hit the surface of Titan before being reflected back up to Cassini. On its way up, it interfered with the direct beam. As Miguel Pérez-Ayúcar, a member of the Huygens Team at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in The Netherlands, and his colleagues watched the signal coming back, they were initially puzzled to see the power of the signal rising and falling in a repetitive manner. “Huygens had not been designed to necessarily survive impact so we had never thought about what the signal would look like from the surface,” says Pérez. After making a joke that aliens must be dragging the craft along the surface, Pérez and the team began work at once to understand the signal. --- To accurately mirror the true signal, Pérez and his team discovered that the surface swathe must be relatively flat and covered mostly in stones of around 5-10 centimetres in diameter. 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>

vogon13 · Jul 25, 2006

I think a similar effect was noted with the second MER also. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!So many people, so few recipes !!Let's clean up this stinkhole !! </div>

Swampcat · Jul 26, 2006

This color composite image of Saturn's moon Tethys was created from IR3, GRN and UV3 filters. The raw images were taken July 23, 2006 from approximately 130,000 kilometers away. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ------------------------------------------------------------------- "I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."Thomas Jefferson </div>

3488 · Jul 27, 2006

Was the effect not noticed by both MERs? This is an interesting side effect of the mission. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

3488 · Jul 27, 2006

Dione seen on: Monday 24th July 2006. Distance 261,648 kilometers / 162,483 miles . Tectonic cliffs on Dione. Anyone got any bright ideas what caused them? Impact, tidal stresses or radioactive heating? I understand that Dione is about 60% rock & 40% ice (unlike its similar sized neighbour Tethys, thought to be about 5% rock & 95% ice). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

3488 · Jul 27, 2006

Tethys seen on: Sunday 23rd July 2006. Distance: 129,364 kilometers / 80,335 miles. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

telfrow · Jul 27, 2006

Spokes Sighted Again! July 26, 2006 This image from the Cassini spacecraft shows a ghostly white streak, called a spoke, in Saturn's B ring. This is the first sighting of a spoke in nearly a year, and the first spoke seen by Cassini on the sunlit side of the rings. It is also the first spoke seen at high phase angle -- that is, the angle formed between the sun, the rings and Cassini. In this geometry, the feature appears white (instead of black) against the rings because the very small particles comprising the spoke preferentially scatter light in the forward direction (i.e. toward Cassini), making the spoke brighter than the background rings. The clear-filter image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 23, 2006, at a distance of approximately 692,000 kilometers (430,000 miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 115 degrees. Image scale on the sky at the distance of Saturn is 38 kilometers (23 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>

Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread Pt. 2

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