Cassini/Huygens Mission Update Thread

[Leovinus]

Cassini is rewriting the text books -- or at least providing them with new illustrations. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[titanian]

You don't need to be an amateur of art to measure the beauty of this free snapshot.Here,you will just have to pay the price of the poster for a priceless feeling!

 

[alokmohan]

Voyager and pioneer also made us rewrite textbooks.This is the process of science,recreats itself.

 

[Leovinus]

<i>As Cassini scientists work to understand the newly-exposed surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, they have found an interesting arrowhead-shaped feature, shown in the center of this synthetic aperture radar image.<br /><br />The feature is approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) across, and it is formed from two straight lines that intersect. Looking more closely, one can distinguish other linear features that seem to follow the left side of the "arrow" and perhaps interact in some way with a dark spot. Straight lines may represent fractures or faults in the icy crust, or they may form from material that has flowed or has been shaped by wind, either recently or in the distant past.<br /><br />The area shown is about 115 kilometers (71 miles) wide and 170 kilometers (106 miles) high and is located near 52 degrees north latitude and 73 degrees west longitude. This radar image is part of a larger strip of data acquired on Oct. 26, 2004, as Cassini passed Titan at a distance of 1,200 kilometers (746 miles). </i> <br /><br />image <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

With an atmosphere such as at Titan, one would expect weathering to destroy traces of impact craters and many incoming meteors to be burned up before impact. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[titanian]

I fully agree with you:there can't be as much well defined impact craters as on Rhea,Dione or Iapetus because of this deep and thick atmosphere ( up to 730 km deep).And at this distance from the Sun, comets and asteroids move slower than in the inner solar system.So, the impacts are likely to be less painful for the surface of Titan.<br />Regarding the nature of the surface,I think that we can eliminate ( without being wrong) the possibility of a Mercury like surface ( iron rich ) due to the low density of this moon ( 1.9 g/cm3). <br /><br />www.titanexploration.com

 

[alokmohan]

Similar to what happens on earth?

 

[silylene old]

<font color="yellow">And at this distance from the Sun, comets and asteroids move slower than in the inner solar system.So, the impacts are likely to be less painful for the surface of Titan.</font><br /><br />Not necessarily. Saturn has a rather big gravitational well to speed up incoming asteroids and comets (though not as big as Jupiter's). I would expect a rather energetic collision. <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]

<i>An intriguing knotted ringlet within the Encke Gap is the main attraction in this Cassini image. The Encke Gap is a small division near the outer edge of Saturn's rings that is about 300 kilometers (190 miles) wide. The tiny moon Pan (20 kilometers, or 12 miles across) orbits within the gap and maintains it. Many waves produced by orbiting moons are visible.<br /><br />The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 807,000 kilometers (501,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[john_316]

My question is this?<br /><br /><br />Are we going ot have another conspiracy here?<br /><br />Another "Face on Mars thing?" I mean the arrow looks pretty darn straight from the picture over at space daily.<br /><br />Could this be the source of all our so called UFO's? Who knows maybe next pass we will have concrete answers....<br /><br /><br />Link http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04zzzzr.html<br /><br /><br />

 

[volcanopele2]

Maybe it just points to the Six Flags Titan<br /><br />No, I don't think it has anything to do with aliens or the like. The straight feature likely represents somekind of tectonic control of the bright material, like a fault scarp confining a cryolava flow perhaps?<br /><br />BTW, being an Io person, this feature immediately reminded me of a similar scale flow on Io south of Sobo Fluctus (though that flow doesn't have as straight of an edge.

 

[Leovinus]

<i>This close-up of the lit side of Saturn's outer B ring and the Cassini Division looks something like a phonograph record. There are subtle, wavelike patterns, hundreds of narrow features resembling a record's 'grooves' and a noticeable abrupt change in overall brightness beyond the dark gap near the right. To the left of the gap is the outer B ring with its sharp edge maintained by a strong gravitational resonance with the moon Mimas. To the right of the Huygens Gap are the plateau-like bands of the Cassini Division. The narrow ringlet within the gap is called the Huygens ringlet.<br /><br />The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 819,000 (509,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

<i>Any doubts about the grandeur of Saturn's rings will be dissolved by sweeping portraits like this one from Cassini. There is a magnificent level of detail visible in this view, which captures almost the entire ring system -- from the thin, outer F ring to faint narrow features in the D ring, interior to the C ring. Along the ringplane, differences in brightness reveal the varying concentrations of the particles that comprise the rings.<br /><br />Cassini is viewing the rings from below. The portion of the rings near the top of the image is closer to the spacecraft, and the portion near the bottom is farther away.<br /><br />The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 836,000 (519,000 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 742 nanometers. The image scale is 46 kilometers (29 miles) per pixel. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[decepticon]

I was looking at the RealTime animation of cassini on the ESA website. I wanted to see the upcoming flyby of titan. You can increase the flyby speed and get an Idea of what cassini will encounter during the flyby.<br /><br />Here is the link http://www.esa.int/export/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEMD6E2VQUD_0.html<br /><br />I noticed that Dione and Rhea come close to cassini after the titan flyby!<br /><br />I hope we get some better images of these moons!

 

[alokmohan]

I am from io.Welcome to board.

 

[Leovinus]

<i>Saturn's inner C ring spreads across the field of view, showing the characteristic plateau and wave-like structure for which it is famed.<br /><br />The center of this image shows an area approximately 75,000 kilometers (46,600 miles) from Saturn. The dark gap through the middle of the frame is the Colombo gap which houses the bright, narrow, eccentric Colombo ringlet, in resonance with the moon Titan.<br /><br />The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 842,000 (523,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 4.7 kilometers (2.9 miles) per pixel. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Swampcat]

<font color="orange"><b>Second Space Christmas For ESA: Huygens To Begin Final Journey To Titan</b><br /><br />One year after Mars Express' arrival at Mars, the mighty rules of celestial mechanics have again set Christmas as the date for a major ESA event in deep space.<br /><br />At 1.25 billion km from Earth, after a 7-year journey through the Solar system, ESA's Huygens probe is about to separate from the Cassini orbiter to enter a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the largest and most mysterious moon of Saturn, in order to dive into its atmosphere on 14 January. This will be the first man-made object to explore in-situ this unique environment, whose chemistry is assumed to be very similar to that of the early Earth just before life began, 3.8 billion years ago.</font><br /><br />ESA Website article... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"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."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

<i>This majestic view of Saturn captures several phenomena of interest to scientists working on the Cassini mission. The planet's nighttime atmosphere looms ahead -- an excellent place to search for storms and lightning. Saturn's shadow stretches across the rings, which will over the next four years receive their most thorough examination since Galileo discovered them in 1610. And barely visible near lower right just inside the F ring, is the small shepherd moon Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across). Researchers will explore the many moons of Saturn, including special ones like Prometheus that help maintain some of the rings and gaps in this complex and dynamic system.<br /><br />The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of about 940,000 kilometers (584,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 52 kilometers (33 miles) per pixel. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

<font color="yellow">"Let's hope Huygens doesn't do a Beagle."</font><br /><br />I hope it doesn't do a Mars Climate Orbiter and enter Titan's atmosphere at a bad angle, being destroyed as the MCO was in '98. Of course everyone learned from THAT big boo boo and are checking and rechecking the latest Titan atmosphere data and Huygens' entry profile.<br /><br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Swampcat]

Let's hope they're all using the same measurement units as well. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"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."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[Leovinus]

<i>This view of Saturn's outer C ring shows the extreme variations in brightness, along with the subtle, large-scale wavy variations discovered 24 years ago by NASA's Voyager spacecraft. The notably dark Maxwell gap (near upper right) contains the bright, narrow and eccentric Maxwell ringlet, a Saturnian analog of the narrow Uranian epsilon ring. The gap also contains another very faint ringlet newly discovered by Cassini.<br /><br />The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 29, 2004, at a distance of 838,000 (521,000 miles) from Saturn. The center of this view shows an area located approximately 81,300 kilometers (50,500 miles) from the planet. The image scale is 4.6 kilometers (2.9 miles) per pixel. </i> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[bobvanx]

Bright, tall, mountain chain right at the equator? How does <i>that</i> happen?<br /><br />Gosh, what at view of the rings you'd get, especially as the sun rises.

 

[Leovinus]

I'd say not. Since this is all on the sunlit side, I assume it's a scratch in the black surface exposing white underneath. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[chmee]

The images and data from Cassini are amazing. Think of what we could have had if Gallileo's main antenna had opened completely... *sigh*

 

[toymaker]

"There is no Huygens part deux... At least for the forseeable future."<br />I did find that Nasa is planning(only as concept at the current time) Titan Explorer :<br />http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_s/nra/current/NRA-03-OSS-01-VM/winners.html<br />"Joel Levine / Langley Research Center<br />Titan Explorer: Orbiter and Aerial Platform<br /><br />A scientific investigation of the atmosphere, clouds, haze, and surface of Titan is proposed. The proposed Titan Explorer platforms will include an orbiter with remote sensing instrumentation and an aerial platform to obtain both in situ and remote measurements of the atmosphere, clouds, haze, and surface of Titan. The scientific objectives, measurement requirements, mission implementation and the required technologies to successfully accomplish the scientific objectives of the mission will be assessed."<br /><br />http://research.hq.nasa.gov/code_s/nra/current/NRA-03-OSS-01/appendA4_2.html<br /><br />"Titan Explorer (Study Case 16)—The atmosphere and surface of Titan are inferred to be rich in organic materials and may, therefore, provide a natural environment for studying organic chemistry at temporal and spatial scales unattainable in terrestrial laboratories. Understanding the pathways of organic synthesis on Titan might yield important insights into the evolution of prebiotic chemistry that led to the origin of life on Earth. The Cassini mission and Huygens probe, now en route to the Saturn system, will return data on Titan’s surface state, atmospheric composition, and chemical processes. A follow-on Titan Explorer mission might include a mobile platform capable of obtaining samples and conducting a variety of experiments at multiple locations."<br /><br />I don't know if the information is up to date though.