Titan Flyby 10/26/04 - As it happens

[ilbasso]

I've got a connection via NASA TV from the spaceflight.nasa.gov site.<br /><br />I'm having flashbacks to watching on TV as the first Ranger images from the Moon impacts and the first Mariner Mars flyby came in.<br /><br />Go NASA!

 

[Leovinus]

I've still got my video tapes of the live Voyager 1 & 2 feeds from Jupiter and Saturn flybys. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[backspace]

I've got the raw images page but it hasn't been updated yet.

 

[decepticon]

^ Thats Cool! I wish I could see that.<br /><br /><br />I remember the Neptune Encounter, that was fun.

 

[ilbasso]

That must have been a thrill to be there for those. The memories of where I was when big space exploration events happened are among my most cherished. Probably tops was when I was working as a summer intern at the Air & Space Museum in DC and got to watch the Apollo 16 moonwalks in the NASM library with Mike Collins.<br /><br />Off topic, I had the opportunity to interview Orlando Figueroa for a project I was doing at NASA HQ a couple of weeks ago. What a great guy!

 

[natrium]

Another new image at http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/view_event.php?id=6

 

[natrium]

Here is the level-adjusted image (scaled down twice)

 

[silylene old]

looks a bit like Ganymede <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>

 

[natrium]

But Ganymede doesn't have an (significant) atmosphere. Here you can clearly see bright clouds.

 

[natrium]

JPL main page now shows a second image.<br />Direct link: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/titan/flyby-102604/titan-flyby2_full.jpg<br /><br />EDIT: Nice, changing flyby2 to flyby3 shows another one, alas not that spectacular.

 

[imran10]

I see at least one, possibly two or three impact craters. I wonder what the dark region is. It does not seem to be liquid since they did not observe the "mirror-like" reflections that they were hoping for. So what could it be? Lava flows? Slushy material? Dirty ice (similar to Ganymede)? Solid organics? I am dying to know.

 

[backspace]

Hehe there goes the image server...<br /><br />"Server Error<br />The server encountered an internal error and was unable to complete your request. <br />Application server is busy. Either there are too many concurrent requests or the server still is starting up."<br />

 

[imran10]

Post deleted by imran10

 

[imran10]

Possible impact craters.

 

[natrium]

So many linear features... Are those cracks or some kind of flows?

 

[lucas78]

wow, quite gorgeous image on NASA TV now (btw, hello everyone, my first post in here even tho I always lurked and followed Cassini since its launch <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> ) <br /><br />And yes, those "flows" seems so "evanescent" compared to the borders of Xanadu

 

[natrium]

The top one may be an artifact just like the obvious ring-like artifact below your arrows.

 

[lucas78]

Another quite interesting pic right now on Nasa TV... A pity we can't see it more in detail on the web for now <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[natrium]

They are showing a cool movie which shows how Titan shows up in different wavelengths. Some wavelength show detail, some don't.

 

[lucas78]

you know, Jupiter and Saturn are on a class of their own, but looking at Titan makes me really feel like looking at an entirely "alien world", quite different from the more "earthly" Mars (as the terrain features go). It's very impressive.

 

[peteb]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Glad I'm not the only 'greybeard' here! I remember sitting in front of the TV in those pre-VCR days with a 35mm loaded with Tri-X on a tripod, and rushing into the darkroom to make prints! Each still better than the last, then BLAM.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />I vaguely recall having used a spring-driven Bell & Howell 8mm movie camera to film one of the Gemini launches off of the TV. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <br /><br />

 

[liquidspace2k]

Does Cassini have radar, so they can map the moon or at least see past the clouds from space... Something like they did on Magellen for Venus...

 

[natrium]

Yes, they actually used the radar on this fly-by. This is why the space craft had to be oriented with the high-gain antenna pointing in direction of Titan. (It uses the high-gain antenna to receive bouncing off radar signals.) Radar data should tell whether Titan has liquid or solid surface.

 

[peteb]

The radar not only will map topography but also has an altimetry mode, does scatterometry (surface roughness) and can work as a passive radiometer to determine surface temperatures. It takes more processing to reduce the radar data so it may be a day or two before they have anything to release - perhaps by the press conference on Thursday.

 

[mikehoward]

Three new hires images available at http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/.<br /><br />And I'm not much wiser about what we're looking at. I'll have to tune back in tomorrow morning.