Cassini-Huygens - Cassini-Huygens Discussion

No life on Mars · 2004-07-03 14:59:40

Take a lookhttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS02/N00006574.jpg]Strange ring

remcook · 2004-07-04 04:08:18

"strange" ring:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...ID=6600

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...ID=6481

it's dust

Palomar · 2004-07-04 09:53:24

Single cloud over Titans south pole..the size of Arizona..dark areas seem to be pure water ice whereas the brighter areas seem to be mixed with hydrocarbons..quite the contrary to what scientists had previously thought!It turns out Titan is more puzzling then previously thought! ???

*Hi Julius Caeser. Yep.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=14509]New Views of Titan

*Excellent article from spaceref.com. Highlights:

"The Cassini spacecraft has revealed surface details of Saturn's moon Titan and imaged a huge cloud of gas surrounding the planet-sized moon."

"...This instrument, capable of mapping mineral and chemical features of the moon, reveals an exotic surface bearing a variety of materials in the south and a circular feature that may be a crater in the north."

"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..."

"A methane cloud is visible near the south pole. It's made of unusually large particles compared to the typical haze particles surrounding the moon, suggesting a dynamically active atmosphere there."

"We're seeing a totally alien surface..There are linear features, circular features, curvilinear features. These suggest geologic activity on Titan, but we really don't know how to interpret them yet. We've got some exciting work cut out for us."

***

Crossing Saturn's rings:

"During the ring plane crossing, the radio and plasma wave science instrument on Cassini measured little puffs of plasma produced by dust impacts. While crossing the plane of Saturn's rings, the instrument detected up to 680 dust hits per second. 'The particles are comparable in size to particles in cigarette smoke,' said Dr. Don Gurnett of the University of Iowa, Iowa City, principal investigator for the instrument. 'When we crossed the ring plane, we had roughly 100,000 total dust hits to the spacecraft in less than five minutes. We converted these into audible sounds that resemble hail hitting a tin roof.'"

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Can't ignore this nugget of WOW!:

"Since entering orbit, Cassini has also provided the first view of a vast swarm of hydrogen molecules surrounding Titan well beyond the top of Titan's atmosphere. Cassini's magnetospheric imaging instrument, first of its kind on any interplanetary mission, provided images of the huge cloud sweeping along with Titan in orbit around Saturn. The cloud is so big that Saturn and its rings would fit within it." (And there's more information related to that particular item which I didn't quote).

::EDIT 2::

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … 3286]Titan in Natural Color Pretty! Orange is one of my most favorite colors.

Also -

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … 287]Saturn movie close-up

"This movie of Saturn's southern hemisphere taken by the Cassini spacecraft cameras shows a banded appearance due to winds, as well as dark cyclonic ovals.

The movie is comprised of 45 frames captured between February 6 and March 30, 2004, as Cassini coasted toward Saturn."

Julius Caeser · 2004-07-04 17:25:49

The fact that clouds made up up of big particles have been detected over Titans south pole is suggestive of a dynamic atmosphere,meaning?I understand that there may be evaporation?sublimation of methane into clouds at 15km altitude above the surface with precipitation.Now whether methane reaches the surface as liquid or solid is the question!All this seems to fit with the fact that it is southern summer over Titans south pole. ??? It would be interesting to have a view of the northern hemisphere to compare between the poles and get an idea of seasonal effects on weather!

Lars_J · 2004-07-04 21:15:31

First false-color image of Titan's surface can be seen here in the press release: http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004 … ...1049228

... "We're seeing a totally alien surface," says Elizabeth Turtle of the University of Arizona. "There are linear features, circular features, curvilinear features. These suggest geologic activity on Titan, but we really don't know how to interpret them yet. We've got some exciting work cut out for us." ...

Image: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … g/PIA06407

Components of image: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … g/PIA06405

5 hr time-lapse of Titan clouds: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo … g/PIA06110

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-07-05 16:18:02

Did you read this

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMEDQL26WD_Ex … l#subhead1

Since entering orbit, Cassini has also provided the first view of a vast swarm of hydrogen molecules surrounding Titan well beyond the top of Titan's atmosphere. Cassini's magnetospheric imaging instrument, first of its kind on any interplanetary mission, provided images of the huge cloud sweeping along with Titan in orbit around Saturn. The cloud is so big that Saturn and its rings would fit within it.

REB · 2004-07-06 09:17:23

I had to do a double take onhttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/titan/images/PIA06407.jpg&type=image]this one. I thought is was Mars for a second.

So what is the deal with those white methane clouds. Are they over a methane ocean, sea or lake? It is snowing or raining methane under those clouds. Are there methane rivers near-bye?

cDelta · 2004-07-06 09:25:12

What kind of surface images and data do you think we can expect from the Huygens probe? I wonder what a methane river or ocean would look like . . . Titan truly is an alien world.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-07-06 14:34:31

its hard to know what Titan is like, but surface images would be wonderful. .let's hope the mission continues to do well

imran · 2004-07-06 21:34:42

No Lakes on Titan? Too Soon to Tell

http://www.planetory.org/news/2004/cass … _0706.html

Palomar · 2004-07-07 06:02:47

*This from spaceweather.com for July 7. CME might reach Saturn; if so, Cassini will witness the effect of the CME on Saturn.

A photo from SOHO of the CME can be seen there:

On July 5th and 6th, an unseen explosion on the far side of the sun hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space.

This CME won't hit Earth, because it's heading directly away from our planet. --->It might, however, reach Saturn ... sometime next month. If so, the Cassini spacecraft will be there to see what happens. <---

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-07-07 06:41:50

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 13293]Rhea: Received July 3 Distance 987,931 km.

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 94]Iapetus: Received July 3 Distance nearly 3 million km.

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 13295]More ring data "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."

--Cindy

P.S.: Check out post above this one regarding CME and possibility of Cassini witnessing its effect on Saturn.

Julius Caeser · 2004-07-07 14:42:30

Looking again at those pics of Titan makes me wonder if those bright features are low lying clouds rather than surface features!!What u think Cindy? ???

Palomar · 2004-07-07 15:07:41

Looking again at those pics of Titan makes me wonder if those bright features are low lying clouds rather than surface features!!What u think Cindy? ???

*Hi Julius Caeser. Uneducated guesstimate: I'd put my money on low-lying clouds (based on the thickness and height of the atmosphere mainly).

Time will tell of course. And I might lose that money.

Wow, didn't that pic of Rhea (in the post above yours) sneak up on us fast? It's fabulous, trying to keep up with the influx of data!

It's all so PRICELESS.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2004-07-08 06:47:56

Like]http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/saturn_rings_040708.html]"Like gunk in a skating rink"

*Refers back to Phoebe-like material in rings...even described as "mud."

Fascinating.

--Cindy

::edit:: Interesting little tidbit: "Now we know the amount of water varies, increasing toward the outer edge of the rings."

REB · 2004-07-08 07:01:22

About those low lying methane clouds.

On Titan, methane can exist as a liquid gas or solid, just like water does on the Earth. In fact, a methane cycle would be very similar to a water cycle on the Earth.

What we have is methane clouds being formed over the pole in the summer season for that hemisphere. There must be a methane ice cap, or maybe a methane lake under those clouds. The Sun’s energy is evaporating the methane and it is forming the clouds. The clouds are moving, but they dissipate once they get away from the area. They must be reaching drier air. It is also possible methane is raining or snowing down.

We need a amphibious MER on Titan.

Palomar · 2004-07-08 07:35:58

We need a amphibious MER on Titan.

*Yes!

Titan is intriguing for another reason: Why didn't any of the OTHER gas giants spawn a moon with a similarly thick atmosphere? Why just Titan? Particularly Jupiter -- if Saturn managed it...well, don't want to get off topic (this isn't about Jupiter or the other gas giants, right?).

But still.

It goes without saying that I really very much hope for the absolute success of Huygens.

--Cindy

REB · 2004-07-08 08:07:30

Ganymede has similar surface gravity as Titan, but it is closer to the Sun, so any Titan like atmosphere would be heated up to escape velocity. If Titan was warmed up, it would loose its atmosphere after a few million years.

atomoid · 2004-07-09 03:47:20

The Sun, such a loud windy messy necessity. or just good old warmth and color thats destructive to volatile collections of matter. Doom to the moons from the Sun!

I remember Harlan Ellison giving a talk in Los Altos last year about how if we could aim several comets to crash into our Moon at just the right angle, we could get it spinning fast enough to make a 24 day. The comet water would, even in the low gravity, be enough to give it an atmospheric pressure even more than Earth's, and in the thick air you would actually be able to flap your arms and fly. The low gravity would still be enough to keep the air around for about 10,000 years...

chat · 2004-07-09 07:34:20

REB,

My thoughts exactly at Titan.
3 billion years of a methane cycle and thick atmosphere= ?.
Wouldn't shock me to see a totally alien set of life on Titan.

Maybe Titan like moon worlds are the rule in the universe, and earth like planet worlds the exception. :hm:

REB · 2004-07-09 09:04:18

Did you see this http://www.newmars.com/forums/viewtopic … 642]Thread I started.

Palomar · 2004-07-09 09:54:36

http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish … Mmmmmmmmmm

*Rings in ultraviolet (best UV pic yet, according to the article).

--Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-07-10 15:58:22

another wonderful picture of those rings

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/spc … B_Ring.jpg

Palomar · 2004-07-11 08:13:02

*Lovely image, YL Rocket! When I die, I want my ashes scattered onto Saturn's rings.

Its]http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040710.html]It's as though you're THERE

Incredible image of Phoebe.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-07-11 21:52:13

It is indeed a fabulous image and I bet we're in for more pictures over the coming months which will knock our socks off, and make this one look tame! :up:

I'm struck by how similar this scene on Phoebe looks to scenes of our own Moon, though on a much smaller scale of course. In all the space books I used to soak up like a sponge as a child, terrain on various moons, including our own, was always portrayed as starkly jagged - very dissimilar to the heavily eroded landscapes common on Earth.
I still find the rolling hills of Luna amazing ... and now this, on Phoebe!
I guess you don't have to have an atmosphere to have erosion.

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