Cassini-Huygens - NASA/ESA Saturn orbiter & Titan lander

Palomar · 2005-07-12 09:00:00

Hyperion is one of the weirdest Saturnian moons, IMO. It always looks so different from photo to photo. The movie won't play on this computer; I'll try it tomorrow on my other computer. WEIRD moon. 40% (or more) of its interior "must be empty space"...hmmmmm. And fascinating interaction with Titan.
Flyby of Hyperion coming 26 September 2005.

*Well gardangit. I still can't get the Hyperion movie to play, not even on the newer computer. ???

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … 9]Hyperion in 3D

Gotta go get my 3D glasses...

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-13 07:28:34

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ID=1598]We have lived to see the glory that is Saturn

*Look at that. The shadow of Saturn's globe seems just a tad bit hazy/fuzzy against those seemingly oh-so smooth Rings. Tiny Prometheus in the photo.

This shepherd moon, like most of Saturn's moons, always keeps the same face pointing toward the planet. An observer on the moon's Saturn-facing side would never see the Sun directly overhead at noon, for the planet would always be in the way (creating an eclipse). Instead, the Sun would rise in the east, but as noon approached the eclipse would begin, bringing darkness a second time. Night comes twice on Prometheus.

Far out. (No pun intended)

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 1599]Awash in stripes

Prometheus in this photo too. This seems a "replay" of "Nature's Canvas" photo, except without color. Lovely just the same.

bright clouds drift in Saturn's atmosphere approximately 130,000 kilometers (81,000 miles) beyond. It is noteworthy that such clouds are visible here in the shadows cast by the rings.

Thank you, Cassini, for being our eyes on such a glorious world and system.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-15 06:18:47

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/p … x.cfm]VOTE!
Which is your favorite? Let them know. "Nature's Canvas" got my vote. The results and winning photo will be announced in mid-July.

*Josh voted for "Nature's Canvas" too.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/p … ex.cfm]The results are in.

Congratulations to ESA/Huygens. Wonderful photo, that haunting image. :up: To finally see THAT.

--Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-07-15 13:31:41

some more from the Cassini-Huygens mission
:laugh:

This map of the surface of Enceladus illustrates the regions that will be imaged

http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2005/1219_2 … 2959_1.jpg

http://www.ciclops.org]www.ciclops.org

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...881.jpg

N00036881.jpg was taken on July 14, 2005 and received on Earth July 15, 2005. The camera was pointing toward RHEA at approximately 275,758 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters.

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMo … modest.jpg

During a recent pass of Saturn's moon Titan, one of more than 40 during Cassini's planned four-year mission, the spacecraft acquired this infrared view of the bright Xanadu region and the moon's south pole. Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across.
Southeast of Xanadu (and above the center in this view) is a peculiar semi-circular feature informally referred to by imaging scientists as "the Smile." This surface feature is the brightest spot on Titan's surface, not only to the imaging science subsystem cameras, but also to the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer instrument, which sees the surface at even longer wavelengths (see Titan's Odd Spot Baffles Scientists ). The Smile is 560 kilometers (345 miles) wide.
At the landing site of the successful Huygens probe mission, brighter regions correspond to icy upland areas, while the darker regions are lowlands that possess a higher proportion of the organic byproducts of Titan's atmospheric photochemistry. Those results seem to confirm the long-standing hypothesis that Xanadu is a relatively high region of less contaminated ice. However, the cause of the even brighter Smile is a mystery that is still under study.
Farther south, a field of bright clouds arcs around the pole, moving at a few meters per second. Around the limb (edge), Cassini peers through Titan's smoggy, nitrogen-rich atmosphere.
North in this image is toward the upper left.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 4, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Titan using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The image scale is 7 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.
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 team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov]http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org]http://ciclops.org .

This is one of the best missions to planets ever done !!

:band:

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-07-15 20:45:58

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/p … x.cfm]VOTE!
Which is your favorite? Let them know. "Nature's Canvas" got my vote. The results and winning photo will be announced in mid-July.
*Josh voted for "Nature's Canvas" too.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/p … ex.cfm]The results are in.
Congratulations to ESA/Huygens. Wonderful photo, that haunting image. :up: To finally see THAT.
--Cindy

Yes, the Cassini-Huygens Landing was great
haunting image !!

here is the latest Enceladus photo

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ...500.jpg

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-07-15 20:57:25

more here !!
Enceladus ‘11EN’ Flyby Raw Preview #4
http://ciclops.org.]http://ciclops.org.

http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2005/1235_2 … 2987_1.jpg
http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2005/1233_2 … 2989_1.jpg
unprocessed images were taken during Cassini's close approach to Enceladus

This unprocessed image was taken during Cassini's close approach to Enceladus on July 14, 2005.

The image was taken with the narrow angle camera from a distance of approximately 33,610 kilometers (20,890 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 50 degrees degrees. Resolution in the image is about 200 meters (650 feet) per pixel.

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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado.
http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2005/1228_2 … 2993_1.jpg
http://ciclops.org/media/ir/2005/1229_2 … 2992_1.jpg

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-07-16 13:02:00

try here if those links don't some out

http://ciclops.org/view_event.php?id=22 … .php?id=22

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … IAE_0.html

more on Cassini's Hyperion fly-by

Palomar · 2005-07-16 16:43:28

try here if those links don't some out
http://ciclops.org/view_event.php?id=22 … .php?id=22
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … IAE_0.html
more on Cassini's Hyperion fly-by

*Wow, YL Rocket, those are great! I couldn't get the Hyperion animation to download from a different site, but ESA sure came through on that for us. :up:

Enceladus flyby pics fabulous. Such rugged terrain considering how smooth it looks from a distance. :;):

Going back to the Hyperion animation: It looks different when "put together" than I'd anticipated. Based on still photos we've seen, I thought it'd have a large patch of darkness on it. Nope. Must have been the effects of position and shadow.

Thanks for posting the ESA animation of Hyperion especially.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-17 10:28:00

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … ]Beautiful scars and wrinkles

*I didn't see this photo in YL Rocket's links. Terrific photo of Enceladus. Cassini aprox 58,171 km away during. Seems like the craters stop where the long "grooves" and ridges begin, huh? At least in that photo. Wild. :up:

-*-

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 17351]Rhea again

Dimples everywhere.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-18 09:09:26

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 1601]Rings at Opposition

*Caption says Cassini is looking down at Saturn's Rings. My impression was of looking up. Guess it's part of my fantasy to be able to fly in a spacecraft beneath those Rings, with their glory overwhelming the view above.

When Cassini gazes down at Saturn's rings with the Sun directly behind the spacecraft, an unusual phenomenon called the "opposition effect" can be seen. The effect is visible here as a bright region, near right, toward the inner edge of the A ring. The precise nature of the effect at Saturn is still under scrutiny by imaging scientists.

Janus in the photo too (lower left).

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 605]Nearly edge-on Rings, and Moons

Pandora (right) and Prometheus (left) in the pic. They're separated by 43,000 miles at the time of this photo.

The F ring, extending farthest to the right, contains a great deal of fine, icy material that is more the size of dust than the boulders thought to comprise the dense B ring. These tiny particles are particularly bright from this viewing geometry, especially at right near the ansa, or edge.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-19 12:11:45

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ID=1606]Oh my

*Adjectives fail. ::shakes head::

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/feature … ni-Huygens Top Ten Science Highlights: July 2004 -- July 2005

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-21 11:18:54

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 609]Helene from afar

*Is one of Dione's Trojan moons; Polydeuces (cool name; it was discovered by the Cassini team) is another, but it's not shown here.

Trojan moons are found near gravitationally stable points ahead or behind a larger moon.

Tethys also has two Trojan moons.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 08]Telesto

Best photo yet of this Trojan moon of Tethys.

Cassini is able to partly resolve Telesto's shape in this view, but surface features are too small to be visible from this distance.

The other is Calypso (not seen here).

Cassini has apparently been busy with some hard-to-get shots.

--Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-07-22 07:05:12

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ID=1606]Oh my
*Adjectives fail. ::shakes head::
-*-
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/feature … ni-Huygens Top Ten Science Highlights: July 2004 -- July 2005
--Cindy

fantastic links Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-23 14:57:18

fantastic links Cindy

*Hi YL Rocket. Unfortunately we'll soon be in a brief "black-out" period:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htm … 448]Saturn nearing "Superior Conjunction"

...with Sol. The white streak in the image isn't Saturn's Rings; it's a distortion. Image obtained July 21.

Saturn is approaching "superior conjunction," that is, it will be almost directly behind the Sun from Earth -- thus the Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn, will not be able to send or receive transmissions normally. Regular science data collection has been temporarily suspended.

Beginning tomorrow, July 24. Communication will resume July 27.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-26 08:11:33

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 1611]Lumpy Prometheus

*Looks like a bleached-out Idaho potato. Photo shows P's southern portion, side facing away from Saturn.

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-r … 90]Cassini finds recent and unusual geology on Enceladus

That portion of the terrain caught my eye, too, when the upclose flyby pics first returned. It's so squarish.

These findings point to a very complex evolutionary history...
The close encounter revealed a landscape near the south pole almost entirely free of impact craters. The area is also littered with house-sized ice boulders carved by unique tectonic patterns found only in this region of the moon.

Mentions "scars" in conjunction with a change in E's spin/rotation rate.

The new findings add to the story of a body that has undergone multiple episodes of geologic activity spanning a considerable portion of its lifetime. The moon's southernmost latitudes have likely seen the most recent activity...The apparent absence of sizable impact craters also suggests the south pole is younger than other terrain on Enceladus.

Mentions connection with E Ring again.

--Cindy

P.S.: Saturns]http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=17483]Saturn's eerie-sounding radio emissions

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-07-27 10:29:30

Has the Cassini-Huygens mission found life on Titan ? ?
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn7716
Huygens capable of detecting life on the Moon Titan ?

McKay and Smith calculate that if methanogens are thriving on Titan, their breathing would deplete hydrogen levels near the surface to one-thousandth that of the rest of the atmosphere. Detecting this difference would be striking evidence for life, because no known non-biological process on Titan could affect hydrogen concentrations as much.
One hope for testing their idea rests with the data from an instrument on Huygens called the GCMS, which recorded Titan's chemical make-up as the probe descended. It will take time to analyse the raw data, partly because hydrogen's signal will have to be separated from those of other molecules. "Eventually, I hope, we will have numbers for at least upper limits for hydrogen," says Hasso Niemann of Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, principal investigator of the GCMS.

IF LIFE exists on Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, we could soon know about it - as long as it's the methane-spewing variety. The chemical signature of microbial life could be hidden in readings taken by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe when it landed on Titan in January.

Palomar · 2005-07-29 06:45:50

Has the Cassini-Huygens mission found life on Titan ? ?
http://www.newscientistspace.com/article.ns?id=dn7716
Huygens capable of detecting life on the Moon Titan ?
--snip--
IF LIFE exists on Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, we could soon know about it - as long as it's the methane-spewing variety. The chemical signature of microbial life could be hidden in readings taken by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe when it landed on Titan in January.

*It'd be great, if so. I'm still waiting to see when they find out if that big red spot on Titan glows in the darkness (heat source).

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ]Ringshine

Wow. Check it out:

Light from the illuminated side of the rings brightens the night side of the planet's southern hemisphere with "ringshine" (seen here at lower right).

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … erwhelming

...and still 1.5 million miles away from it! :shock: Another reminder of how huge Saturn is.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-07-29 15:58:46

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-r … 92]Cassini finds active, watery world at Enceladus

*Evidence for active ice volcanism there. This would make Enceladus the Solar System's smallest body with volcanic behavior. Mentions the huge cloud of water vapor over E's south pole.

Also, it's been confirmed that Enceladus is the major source of the E-Ring, which is Saturn's largest.

Check out the reference to "tiger stripes."

South pole also warmer than anticipated:

Another Cassini instrument, the composite infrared spectrometer, shows the south pole is warmer than anticipated. Temperatures near the equator were found to reach a frigid 80 degrees Kelvin (minus 316 Fahrenheit), as expected. The poles should be even colder because the Sun shines so obliquely there. However, south polar average temperatures reached 85 Kelvin (minus 307 Fahrenheit), much warmer than expected. Small areas of the pole, concentrated near the "tiger stripe" fractures, are even warmer: well over 110 Kelvin (minus 261 Fahrenheit) in some places.
"This is as astonishing as if we'd flown past Earth and found that Antarctica was warmer than the Sahara," said Dr. John Spencer

Nice illustrations accompany the article.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-01 13:47:04

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ageID=1628

*Mentions the "donut-shaped storm" near Saturn's south pole. Have to look hard to see it, and is almost a perfect ring. Looks so tiny yet is 1000 miles in diameter. Wish we'd get more info as to why the clouds over the south pole are so dark (I mean if there's a reason other than lack of direct or much sunlight, resultant coldness, etc.), what average wind speeds there are, etc.

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … ageID=1633

Pretty Rhea. That big splotch might be impact related? Seems for certain it is.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-02 10:50:20

:shock: Whoa.

Photo taken at a distance of (rounded off) 600,000 miles from Saturn. IIRC, that's the closest yet.

Can see the bend]http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/atmospheric_illusion_saturn_clouds.html?282005]"bend in the rings" atmospheric illusion.

Wish that pic were in color. ::sigh:: But it's fabulous regardless.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-04 09:20:18

*Mimas like you've http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … 1637]never seen it.

Maybe. Cassini flew past at a distance of 62,700 miles. Can see the
shadow of Herschel's central peak against the far crater wall.

It truly is amazing that the impact didn't utterly destroy Mimas, as the caption also points out. That must be very near the upper limit of a sustainable impact. Geez Louise.

-*-

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/i … Opposition view

Nice.

--Cindy

P.S.: Next Titan flyby is August 22. Cassini will swoop to within 2356 miles of Titan's surface.

Palomar · 2005-08-04 14:21:25

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … 49]Cassini UVIS instrument...

*...captures aurorae at both Saturnian poles. In the images it's the -south- pole. The images are 1 hour apart. False color of course: Blue is hydrogen excited by electron bombardment. Red-orange is reflected sunlight. North pole not shown.

Says the auroral phenomena respond quickly to changes in the solar wind.

(Saturn is beautiful no matter in what light it's photographed)

--Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-08-05 07:26:28

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … 49]Cassini UVIS instrument...
*...captures aurorae at both Saturnian poles. In the images it's the -south- pole. The images are 1 hour apart. False color of course: Blue is hydrogen excited by electron bombardment. Red-orange is reflected sunlight. North pole not shown.
Says the auroral phenomena respond quickly to changes in the solar wind.
(Saturn is beautiful no matter in what light it's photographed)
--Cindy

amazing information 8)

Zooming In On Enceladus
http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=1266
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/v … videoID=92

Huygens 3D animation of Titan
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … 8BE_0.html
The region pictured is approximately 1.5 by 3.5 kilometres and displays a maximum relative relief, or difference in heights, of between 150 and 200 metres. The blue and green areas are the lowest, with orange and red denoting the highest areas. The members of the Huygens DISR instrument team are based throughout the USA and Europe, with the largest contributing groups from the University of Arizona, USA, the Max Planck Institute, Germany, and the Paris Observatory, Meudon, France.

Mimas fly-by
http://ciclops.org/view_event.php?id=24

Palomar · 2005-08-06 11:08:51

*Some new pics rolling in:

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 619]Tethys

Distance from C aprox 840,000 miles. Nice crescent view, and dotted with those huge craters.

-*-

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 620]Tethys & Odysseus

I wonder if you put a photo of Mimas and Tethys side by side, and had them rotated according to north/south pole orientation (north up of course), if Odysseus and Herschel craters are in about the same area of impact on each moon. They do rotate the photos so "north is up" (if not every time then at least often) and it seems to be the case. But of course I'm not certain; just wondering.

-*-

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 7618]Dione has cat-scratch fever

Many interesting features.

-*-

http://www.saturntoday.com/news/viewsr. … 17617]Rhea

Two impact craters so close and very much alike.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-06 11:31:45

Zooming In On Enceladus
http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=1266
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/v … videoID=92
Huygens 3D animation of Titan
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … 8BE_0.html
The region pictured is approximately 1.5 by 3.5 kilometres and displays a maximum relative relief, or difference in heights, of between 150 and 200 metres. The blue and green areas are the lowest, with orange and red denoting the highest areas.

*Fantastic! I especially like the 1st link of "Zooming in on Enceladus." That oblong area which they artificially brightened, and prior to that getting closer to the "tiger stripes." Next to Titan, Enceladus is Saturn's most interesting moon so far, IMO.

3D Titan animation excellent too. Want to know more about Titan, especially that "red spot"; is it a heat source or no? There'll be another flyby of Titan by Cassini this month. Not sure they'll do it during that flyby, but scientists want to obtain a night-time image to see if that red spot glows in the dark, etc.

--Cindy

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