Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread

[cmd673]

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[spacechump]

Well in light of the situation...I'm going to help everyone get back on track.<br /><br />http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ir_index.php?id=6<br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm<br /><br />What a great start to an amazing mission...especially those surface shots of Titan.

 

[centsworth_II]

I was at first disappointed when I learned that the images of the rings would not have near enough resolution to see individual ring objects. The images of the rings however DID NOT disappoint! And I'm glad to see that the scientists are equally thrilled and expect to learn a lot from those images -- which they can then explain to me!<br /><br />The other image that captured me was the map of Titan showing the Huygens landing ellipse. It looks like the ellipse is at a spot where one of those soft, swirly, white areas reaches into one of the featureless dark zones. The probe may land in the indeterminate region between the two; but it, and we, will certainly see both topographies on the way down. I remember seeing the post flyby press briefing and, in answer to a confused reporter's question about the meaning of the light and dark areas in the images of Titan, a scientist said that their theories had changed literally overnight and that the reporter was "not alone" in his confusion.<br /><br />From this article on the first Cassini flyby of Titan:<br />http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/cassini_makes_first_titan_flyby.html?572004<br /><br /><i>"At some wavelengths, we see dark regions of relatively pure water ice and brighter regions with a much higher amount of non-ice materials, such as simple hydrocarbons. This is different from what we expected. It's preliminary, but it may change the way we interpret light and dark areas on Titan," said JPL's Dr. Kevin Baines, Cassini science-team member. </i><br /><br />I can't wait for the next, much closer, flyby of Titan in October. <br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacechump]

What really got me was the clarity of the images. Especially this one:<br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/rings/images/PIA06096.jpg&type=image<br /><br />It's almost likes your STANDING in the density waves of the A ring.<br /><br />It's interesting that the inner rings are "dirtier" than the outer rings. There are some grea false color images of that as well. <br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/rings/images/PIA05076.jpg&type=image

 

[centsworth_II]

<i>"What really got me was the clarity of the images. Especially this one:</i> <br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/rings/images/PIA06096.jpg&type=image" <br /><br />I still remember the Cassini Imaging Team Leader, Carolyn Porco, commenting on the strange hay-like texture in this image. She said she thought it represented real features in the ring rather than being an image artifact, but that was in the heady moments as the images were coming in and being seen by scientists and general (Cassini following) public at the same time. I don't know what conclusions are being drawn now that there has been time to study the images in more detail. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[omegamogo]

We need a mod to make this a sticky, but this will do for now.<br />hmm the images ARE quite impressive, but I'm still looking forward to Huygens entering Titan, that will be in Jan 2005 right?<br />

 

[silylene old]

<i>she thought it represented real features in the ring rather than being an image artifact, but that was in the heady moments as the images were coming in and being seen by scientists and general (Cassini following) public at the same time. I don't know what conclusions are being drawn now that there has been time to study the images in more detail. </i><br />I have been wondering about this too. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

This thread is for updates for the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

Unfortunately, Uplink went down just as Cassini was arriving at Saturn. Here's a recent picture taken during the arrival.<br /><br /><i>At the Edge of an Alien World: Cassini Arrives at Saturn<br />When the Cassini spacecraft launched into space nearly seven years ago, its destination - Saturn - appeared as a speck in a sea of stars. More than a billion miles later, Cassini has at last arrived at the ringed planet and discovered a dynamic world full of surprises.</i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

<i>Images taken during the Cassini spacecraft's orbital insertion on June 30 show definite compositional variation within the rings.<br /><br />This image shows, from left to right, the outer portion of the C ring and inner portion of the B ring. The B ring begins a little more than halfway across the image. The general pattern is from "dirty" particles indicated by red to cleaner ice particles shown in turquoise in the outer parts of the rings.<br /><br />The ring system begins from the inside out with the D, C, B and A rings followed by the F, G and E rings.<br /><br />This image was taken with the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph instrument, which is capable of resolving the rings to show features up to 97 kilometers (60 miles) across, roughly 100 times the resolution of ultraviolet data obtained by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

<i>Evidence from the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft indicates that the grain sizes in Saturn's rings grade from smaller to larger, related to distance from Saturn. Those data (right) are shown next to a corresponding picture of the rings taken by Cassini's narrow angle camera.<br /><br />Saturn's rings are thought to be made up of boulder-size snowballs. By looking at the rings with the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, the size of the ice crystals, or grains, on the surfaces of those boulders can be determined.<br /><br />This visual and infrared mapping spectrometer has a spatial resolution similar to that of the human eye, so it provides a view analogous to standing on the spacecraft. Only instead of looking at the rings in visible wavelengths, the instrument sees wavelengths beyond what human eyes can see, ranging from the ultraviolet to the infrared.<br /><br />The latest observations show that grain sizes range from very small, like powdery snow on Earth, to larger grains, like more granular snow.<br /><br />The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer can also see the fingerprint signatures of chemical bonds, and, in this case, it spotted the bonds of frozen water molecules. Saturn's rings are made mostly of water in the form of ice. While this has been known for many years, the Cassini data are showing that the ring ice is more pure than previously thought, with the most pure ices generally being observed at increasing distances from Saturn. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

<i>These graphs illustrate wind strength (bottom) and temperature above Saturn. The data were acquired by the Cassini spacecraft's composite infrared spectrometer when Saturn had just begun summer in its southern hemisphere. Altitude increases in the upward direction, and Saturn's south pole is to the right. The color red indicates higher temperatures, and stronger winds.<br /><br />As the top graph show, temperatures are cooler in the troposphere (the layer just above the cloud deck). In the upper stratosphere (the layer above the troposphere), temperatures increase toward the south pole. Temperature variation is muted in the upper troposphere.<br /><br />These observed temperature changes allow the east-west winds to be determined. The measured cloud-top winds from NASA's Voyager mission have also been used to create this wind plot. This is the first time that the stratospheric winds have been determined. They show a marked decline of about 140 meters per second (approximately 300 miles per hour) at low latitudes, moving from the cloud tops to higher levels. The origin of this decay, or wind speed reduction, is not known.<br /><br />Temperature maps obtained in the future from Cassini's new position in orbit around Saturn will have higher latitude resolution, and are expected to show more detail, helping us to unravel the riddles of Saturn's winds above the cloud tops. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacechump]

Leovinus, can you merge the thread we started down below into this one?

 

[Leovinus]

No, but you can post a link to it. Since this is a "Mission Update Thread", I don't see the point because the other thread will rapidly become out-of-date anyway.<br /><br />As a moderator, I can split off posts to another thread, but I cannot merge them.<br /><br />The reason I started another thread was because I was unable to start a thread as a moderator so I used my alias account "cmd673". Afterwards, I realized that it had a link in the signature line which was political in nature and I didn't think that was right for a thread on a science forum that was going to be widely accessed. I was unable to get rid of the signature even by deleting the head post. So I locked the thread and started this one. FYI. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[spacechump]

No problem Leo. Good enough explanation for me <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[decepticon]

Im thrilled with the images of Iapetus and Titan.<br /><br />They can join the death star club! <br />Iapetus seams to have a Massive large Crater hiding in the black area.<br /><br />And with Titan, It looks like the Big crater was Visable from earth! It sticks out now like a sore thumb.<br /><br />http://members.rogers.com/furiato/Allspark/deathstars.jpg<br /><br />

 

[scottcarlin]

Ciclops doesn't have any pictures of Iapetus.<br /><br />http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ir_index_main.php<br /><br />Are you sure that was taken by Cassini?<br /><br />I was wondering why there hasn't been any new pictures being posted. Saturn has been behind the sun for the past week so the images should start flooding in anytime now. Hopefully.

 

[spacechump]

<i>Ciclops doesn't have any pictures of Iapetus.<br /><br />http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ir_index_main.php<br /><br />Are you sure that was taken by Cassini?</i><br /><br />Darn sure....ciclops site doesn't seem to post up raw images. But you can get them at the link below.<br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-list.cfm?browseLatest=0&cacheQ=0&storedQ=0

 

[backspace]

Damage to one of the optics? Can't help but notice this is in every one of the raw images, post-SOI.<br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=7077<br /><br />look along the right hand side of the image, about 3/4 of the way down and about a thumb's width off the edge. You will see a circular grey feature with a raised lighter colored dot near its' center. This is not a titan feature, as I have now located the "spot" in a lot of other pictures. In some it's not as visible as it is in others. <br /><br />Here, it's EXTREMELY visible:<br /><br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=6988

 

[decepticon]

That spot tricked me, I thought it was a crater!

 

[omegamogo]

I can see the circular thing, But I'm not sure if its a lens defect or an actual feature of titan, there are some other strange objects in the pic too, But they're hard to see, If any of you has a laptop or an LCD screen, Tilt it back so the bottom is toward you, this might be just my screen but doing that gives the pic a sort of a negative-ish effect that makes you see the other stuff.<br />One which seems to be a rather large quarter circle in the lower right corner, and some other circular objects (i found 2, but they were hard to detect) which makes me think it's either some effect caused by the clouds or a lens defect.<br />

 

[larper]

You're right, backspace. It appears to be a flaw on the optics. Looks like the lens got hit. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Vote </font><font color="#3366ff">Libertarian</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[krrr]

From the FAQ:<br /><br />What are those dark donut shapes?<br /><br />Small donut-like dark spots in images are actually out of focus dust specks on the filter wheels, lenses or other parts of the optics of the cameras. Because there is no way to clean the cameras in space, more of these spots may appear as the Cassini mission progresses. <br />

 

[backspace]

hmm. A FAQ that actually had at least ONE helpful bit of information in it. Must be a first for the web. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[Leovinus]

Obviously, somebody in the government's Department of Foggy FAQs is going to get the sack for this. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>