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

Palomar · 2005-08-11 12:35:43

Saturns]http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=1651]Saturn's Anti-Hurricanes

*Like: Far out.

Includes movies. Yeah, baby, I am digging these scenes.

The region below center in these images (at minus 35 degrees) has seen regular storm activity since Cassini first approached Saturn in early 2004. Cassini investigations of the atmosphere from February to October 2004 showed that most of the oval-shaped storms in the latitude region near minus 35 degrees rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, with smaller storms occasionally merging into larger ones

--Cindy

P.S.: Cassini was 1.5 million miles from Saturn during. I wonder how big that storm is?

Palomar · 2005-08-12 08:42:04

Impressions from Cassini

*Obtained July 6 at a distance of 1.5 million miles.

The feathery band that cuts across from the upper left corner to the right side of this scene has a chevron, or arrow, shape near the right. The center of the chevron is located at the latitude (about 28 degrees South) of an eastward-flowing zonal jet in the atmosphere. Counter-flowing eastward and westward jets are the dominant dynamic features seen in the giant planet atmospheres. A chevron-shaped feature with the tip pointed east means that this is a local maximum in the eastward wind and a region of horizontal wind shear, where clouds to the north and south of the jet are being swept back by the slower currents on the sides of the jet.

-*-

Epimetheus & the F Ring

Part of the little moon's night side is illuminated by reflected light from the planet.

Arrgh. Eye strain. :x :shock: But yeah, can see the reflected light. Just barely.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2005-08-12 09:52:15

That sure is alot of light cast off from the planets surface.

So what other breaking discoveries have I missed by not following the exploration of planet Saturn by the Cassini probe?

Palomar · 2005-08-15 11:44:36

*Here's the breakdown:

Cassini Calendar

September 5 looks like an interesting date on the calendar. IIRC we've not yet seen a photo of the moon named Methone. On that date Cassini will also view Sol as it passes behind Saturn; I'm really looking forward to the photos from that event.

The Titan flyby is only 6 days away. I'm looking for information regarding the proposed objectives of that flyby; am still curious for a night-time survey over that "red spot" region scientists are wondering about (a heat source or not). I checked this latest mission update article and see no reference to it.

SpaceNut: I'll repost the Top 10 Science Highlights from the mission. Otherwise it looks like you've got some scrolling back (and back and back) to do , teehee.

Last but not least: Filaments & Vortices

Interesting difference in the appearances of those two storms. One strongly resembles a Terran hurricane IMO, while the other looks like a donut.

Atmospheric scientists do not yet fully understand what these filaments are, but some possible explanations have been proposed. The filaments might represent material connecting the spots if the two have recently split from a single storm. The spirals could also represent wind flow in the atmosphere.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-17 07:57:25

Animation of Titan's clouds

*Is of the area over that footprint-shaped depression which they're speculating might be (or might have been) a methane (rain) reservoir. I wonder what makes some of the clouds so much brighter than other portions. Obtained on June 6.

The appearance of the feature seen here is unique among the dark terrains observed thus far on Titan. Other dark areas appear to have angular or diffuse boundaries, while this one possesses a smooth perimeter, suggestive of an eroded shoreline.
In addition to the notion that the dark feature is or was a lake filled with liquid hydrocarbons, scientists have speculated about other possibilities. For instance, it is plausible that the lake is simply a broad depression filled by dark, solid hydrocarbons falling from the atmosphere onto Titan's surface. In this case, the smoothed outline might be the result of a process unrelated to rainfall, such as a sinkhole or a volcanic caldera.

-*-

Hyperion again

That danged moon always looks different in each photo. This one is from August 16. Hopefully they can put together an animated collage (or a computer simulation) of the entire thing, and rotate it each way -- I'd like to see Hyperion in that manner. Strange moon.

-*-

Southern polar region of Rhea

A gash (left almost center) amongst many craters.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-17 14:02:31

*Hot off the space.com wire:

Saturn's Rings have their own atmosphere

Rings' atmosphere is separate from the gases around Saturn's globe. Ring atmosphere contains molecular oxygen, which is also found in Earth's atmosphere. Ring ice is the oxygen source. They're speculating the Ring's atmosphere is kept in place by gravitational forces.

Though they're 155,343 miles wide x <1 mile thick:

If all the rings were squeezed into one solid ring, it would be no more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) across.

"As water comes off the rings, it is split by sunlight; the resulting hydrogen and atomic oxygen are then lost, leaving molecular oxygen,” said Cassini investigator Andrew Coates...
Saturn’s rings are made up mostly of water ice along with small amounts of dust and rocky bits. Ultraviolet rays from the Sun pry the water molecules loose from the rings and split them into their building blocks – hydrogen and the two forms of oxygen – by a process called photodissociation.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Can't overlook this:

The rings are not stable and are constantly regenerated, most likely from the break-up of Saturn’s satellites.

-and-

The ring system’s oxygen atmosphere differs drastically from the atmosphere of Saturn itself – Saturn’s atmosphere is 91 percent hydrogen by mass.

Shaun Barrett · 2005-08-18 01:50:58

If all the rings were squeezed into one solid ring, it would be no more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) across.

... And still 1 mile thick, I presume? (Though they don't say so.) :?:

Great article!

Palomar · 2005-08-18 07:58:54

If all the rings were squeezed into one solid ring, it would be no more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) across.
... And still 1 mile thick, I presume? (Though they don't say so.) :?:

*Yeah, the article doesn't mention what the difference would be thickness-wise. The Rings are already under a mile thick.

Wouldn't the thickness difference be in proportion to the width difference?

Maybe someone better at math than I could calculate that difference.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Titan Flyby on August 22

Go Cassini! Wooohooooo!

Shaun Barrett · 2005-08-20 00:13:53

Cindy:-

Wouldn't the thickness difference be in proportion to the width difference?
Maybe someone better at math than I could calculate that difference.

Hmmm. Well, they say the rings are 250,000 kms wide and would squish down to 100 kms if they were solid. i.e. 2,500 times narrower.
-- The thickness is said to be:-

.. actually quite thin, less than a mile (1.5 kilometers).

Let's say the thickness is 1 km, just roughly.
-- Thus, if the reducing ratio is the same for the thickness as it is for the width, we would expect the thickness of the rings to reduce down to 1 km divided by 2,500.
-- This is equal to 0.0004 km, or 0.4 of a metre, or 40 cms.

-- In plain American English, that's a little less than 16 inches! :shock:

-- Amazing that something so beautiful and so clearly obvious from so far away has so little substance. :!:

Palomar · 2005-08-20 04:55:52

Cindy:-
Wouldn't the thickness difference be in proportion to the width difference?
Maybe someone better at math than I could calculate that difference.
Hmmm. Well, they say the rings are 250,000 kms wide and would squish down to 100 kms if they were solid. i.e. 2,500 times narrower.
-- The thickness is said to be:-
.. actually quite thin, less than a mile (1.5 kilometers).
Let's say the thickness is 1 km, just roughly.
-- Thus, if the reducing ratio is the same for the thickness as it is for the width, we would expect the thickness of the rings to reduce down to 1 km divided by 2,500.
-- This is equal to 0.0004 km, or 0.4 of a metre, or 40 cms.
-- In plain American English, that's a little less than 16 inches! :shock:
-- Amazing that something so beautiful and so clearly obvious from so far away has so little substance. :!:

*Hi Shaun: Thanks for doing the math. Wow.

So beautiful, yep. And despite all our photos and movies of Saturn via Cassini and other instruments, I'm sure these artificial eyes cannot truly capture the magnificence of Saturn and its Rings. To be able to see it upclose with our own eyes would, I'm sure, be literally mind-blowing. To be able to travel with Cassini as a spaceship with lots of windows...it'd be 24/7 bliss out. Sleep? What's that? LOL...

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-20 05:39:58

Innermost D Ring

This close-up view is Cassini's best look yet at Saturn's tenuous innermost D ring. The narrow ringlet visible here is named "D68" and is the innermost discrete feature in the D ring. The image also clearly shows how the diffuse component of the D-ring tapers off as it approaches the planet.

A portion of the C Ring also visible, as are background stars.

The photo was taken on the Dark Side. :twisted: Lol...

-*-

Epimetheus

Mentions the two craters which are the only Epimethean features with official names. Why not Castor for the other one?

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2005-08-22 02:39:34

Cindy:-

Why not Castor for the other one?

Good point - the "Heavenly Twins". Makes sense to me.

Palomar · 2005-08-23 05:36:20

Titan flyby info rolling in

*This article mentions various provisional surface-feature names. Cassini flew aprox 3,669 km above Titan's surface. Raw images are expected this afternoon.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-25 06:14:28

Tethys looks very odd in this photo

*What a distinctive border Odysseus has. We've seen another pic "head-on" of Odysseus wherein it looks like an eyeball. That dark "equatorial band" is intriguing too; another mystery to keep tabs on.

Several moons in the outer solar system have large impact features like Odysseus, and scientists are interested in learning how such powerful impacts have altered the moons' surfaces.

Yeah...Odysseus measures 280 miles across while the entire moon is only 665 miles across. Geez. How did Tethys survive that impact? It's like Mimas and Herschel too. Those two craters must surely be examples of the upper limits of impact sustainability.

-*-

Pandora glides along

Nice. Can see cloud features (height) on Saturn's globe, too. Sail on, little Pandora!

-*-

Supreme beauty

Swirling cloud bands, delicate ring shadows and icy moons make the Saturn system a place of supreme natural beauty. Even Cassini's remarkable images can only provide the slightest sense of the experience of actually being there.

Indeed. It'd be wonderfully and fantastically overwhelming.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-08-26 13:00:08

1st Quarter Mimas

*The shadowy stripes below are Ring shadows against the northern hemisphere. Very serene. Wish that were a color pic.

-*-

Above Rhea's South Pole

Wow...

Rhea's icy surface is so heavily saturated with impact craters that the moon's limb, or edge, has a rugged, bumpy appearance.

Yep; extreme upper left-hand side. Some bombardment. :shock:

-*-

The Saffron Moon

Not orange... saffron.

Natural color. Check out Titan Mosaic link within.

--Cindy

REB · 2005-08-26 13:24:58

Cindy, check out that white cloud on the left side, near the end of the movie. It looks almost like it is coming from a stationary source- like a volcano venting (I know it can’t be a volcano venting, but that is what it looks like)

Saturn's Anti-Hurricanes
*Like: Far out.
Includes movies. Yeah, baby, I am digging these scenes.
The region below center in these images (at minus 35 degrees) has seen regular storm activity since Cassini first approached Saturn in early 2004. Cassini investigations of the atmosphere from February to October 2004 showed that most of the oval-shaped storms in the latitude region near minus 35 degrees rotate in a counter-clockwise direction, with smaller storms occasionally merging into larger ones
--Cindy
P.S.: Cassini was 1.5 million miles from Saturn during. I wonder how big that storm is?

Palomar · 2005-08-28 19:34:45

REB wrote:

Cindy, check out that white cloud on the left side, near the end of the movie. It looks almost like it is coming from a stationary source- like a volcano venting (I know it can’t be a volcano venting, but that is what it looks like)
Palomar wrote:
Saturn's Anti-Hurricanes
*Like: Far out.
Includes movies. Yeah, baby, I am digging these scenes.
*Hi REB. I'll have to check it again on my other computer, which is on the lam right now; I do recall what you're referring to, but want to watch it again. I'll edit this post later with further comments. Isn't Saturn fab?
--Cindy

We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...
--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

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#101 2005-08-11 12:35:43

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

#102 2005-08-12 08:42:04

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

#103 2005-08-12 09:52:15

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

#104 2005-08-15 11:44:36

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

#105 2005-08-17 07:57:25

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

#106 2005-08-17 14:02:31

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

#107 2005-08-18 01:50:58

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

#108 2005-08-18 07:58:54

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

#109 2005-08-20 00:13:53

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

#110 2005-08-20 04:55:52

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

#111 2005-08-20 05:39:58

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

#112 2005-08-22 02:39:34

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

#113 2005-08-23 05:36:20

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

#114 2005-08-25 06:14:28

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

#115 2005-08-26 13:00:08

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

#116 2005-08-26 13:24:58

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

#117 2005-08-28 19:34:45

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

#118 2005-08-30 13:38:31

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

#119 2005-08-31 07:44:35

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

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