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

Palomar · 2005-09-10 06:25:34

Methane monsoons may lash Titan :shock:
The team observed "vigorous centres" in the clouds as they rose from a height of 23 kilometres to 44 km at speeds of several tens of metres per second. Then, the cloud tops dissipated or fell 10 kilometres over the next 30 minutes. This suggests the clouds "evolve convectively and dissipate through rain," reported Caitlin Griffith of the University of Arizona on Thursday.

*Cool.

He says it may be raining somewhere on Titan at any given time, but that centuries may pass between rainstorms in a particular region.

I agree with the comparisons to river channels resembling what's seen in the Desert SW. Flash flooding mentioned and the possibility of thunder.

Methane quantity:

But if the methane in Titan's atmosphere were concentrated into a single liquid layer, it would cover the entire moon in a blanket 10 metres thick. "The air is holding a lot of methane"

...temperature suggest the Sun can only produce an average of about a centimetre or two of rain per year over all of Titan.
"That doesn't say whether it's a millimetre every month, a centimetre every year, or several metres every thousand years," says Lorenz.

Fascinating.

-*-

Janus

Can see features on the moon's dark side, thanks to reflected light from Saturn.

-*-

Check out the two articles pertaining to slower-spinning Rings.

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Gallery: Views of Saturn's deep clouds

Palomar · 2005-09-12 11:54:06

Icy Rhea, upclose and personal

I like the name of its one crater: Izanagi.

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Keeler Moon & Waves

The moon is

S/2005 S1, visible at the center and first discovered by Cassini a few months ago.

Its diameter is a teensy 4.3 miles; it orbits within a 26-mile wide gap.

Waves raised in the gap edges by the Keeler moonlet's gravity are clearly visible here. Scientists can use the height of the waves to determine the little moon's mass.

Sail on, little moon.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-12 19:05:08

Fresh Tiger Stripes on Enceladus
*Spectacular photo. Definitely the best I've yet seen. What odd coloring too: A putty-colored moon with icy blue "stripes." Very beautiful, though, in its own uniquely weird way.
--Cindy
p.s.: Uh-oh...sometimes the pic downloads easily and sometimes it doesn't. Not sure why. Is worth the effort, though.
-*-
::EDIT:: Tiny Enceladus May Hold Ingredients of Life Yep, Titan's having to share the spotlight.

*A friend wrote the following to me privately yesterday, regarding Enceladus:

In the absence of a better idea from any quarter, I wondered about a large rocky meteor perhaps having impacted Enceladus at that anomalously warm point some time ago, burying itself in the moon's icy crust. The radioactive elements in the meteor, decaying over geological time periods like a lesser version of the ones powering volcanism in Earth's interior today, might be producing just enough heat to melt a deep portion of the crust, causing the outgassing, and elevating the surface temperature by the observed 20 deg.K. That same relative warmth, softening the frozen crust, might quickly have erased the crater which resulted from the collision and removed the tell-tale evidence of the meteor's existence.

Being a comparatively rare event, an impact like this would explain why Enceladus alone has a hotspot while other icy moons of a similar size are uniformly cold and geologically dead, as we would expect.

It's an understatement to say that's an extremely interesting speculation.

-Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-09-13 06:34:10

Methane monsoons may lash Titan :shock:
The team observed "vigorous centres" in the clouds as they rose from a height of 23 kilometres to 44 km at speeds of several tens of metres per second. Then, the cloud tops dissipated or fell 10 kilometres over the next 30 minutes. This suggests the clouds "evolve convectively and dissipate through rain," reported Caitlin Griffith of the University of Arizona on Thursday.
*Cool.
He says it may be raining somewhere on Titan at any given time, but that centuries may pass between rainstorms in a particular region.
I agree with the comparisons to river channels resembling what's seen in the Desert SW. Flash flooding mentioned and the possibility of thunder.
Methane quantity:
But if the methane in Titan's atmosphere were concentrated into a single liquid layer, it would cover the entire moon in a blanket 10 metres thick. "The air is holding a lot of methane"
...temperature suggest the Sun can only produce an average of about a centimetre or two of rain per year over all of Titan.
"That doesn't say whether it's a millimetre every month, a centimetre every year, or several metres every thousand years," says Lorenz.
Fascinating.
-*-
Janus
Can see features on the moon's dark side, thanks to reflected light from Saturn.
-*-
Check out the two articles pertaining to slower-spinning Rings.
--Cindy
::EDIT:: Gallery: Views of Saturn's deep clouds

great information and wonderful pics

Palomar · 2005-09-14 06:05:30

Mimas...AND?
Unless my eyesight needs a checkup, there's another moon there.

*It's Rhea. Folks elsewhere found that information.

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Fensal-Aztlan Region on Titan

Aka "The H" -- because it resembles the letter "H." This is on the Saturn-facing side of Titan. Fensal is the Northern portion and possesses lots of small islands of water ice ranging from 3 to 25 miles across and surrounded by "dark particulate matter" believed to be falling from the atmosphere. Aztlan is the Southern region and only has 3 large islands in its far western portion and otherwise is devoid of them.

Image obtained during September 7th flyby.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-15 06:15:41

Cassini sees spokes!

*Yay! Cassini team has been on the lookout for spokes phenomena since February 2004 (still en route to Saturn). Voyager saw them during its flyby in the early '80s. They've finally been spotted -- on the dark side of the B Ring. Three images obtained on Sept. 5, spanning 27 minutes. Scientists didn't expect to find them until about 2007.

“Spokes are one of those Saturn-system phenomena that we are keenly interested in understanding.”...
“Remember, Voyager was just a flyby, Cassini is in orbit,” Porco said, adding that Cassini is a vastly superior observation platform when compared to Voyager. “We have the opportunity for monitoring them and their behavior, their comings and goings, how they evolve, when they appear and disappear.”
“It felt like the old days, when we first saw the spokes,” Porco said. “They are one weird phenomena and it was a joy to see them again…especially since we hadn’t seen them yet and were eager to know why.”

Yippee

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-16 08:25:20

Telesto

*Have only found this image at 1 web site. Resolution not good. Pics of Telesto are infrequent, however, so will post it. Telesto measures 15 miles across and shares Tethys' orbital path.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-17 06:01:29

Best evidence yet

*...for a shoreline on Titan. They're calling it "dramatic." Area measures 1,060 by 106 miles. This is from Cassini radar, obtained during the latest flyby. Speculation continues regarding seepage of liquid from the ground and/or ground springs and/or rainfall.

--Cindy

Julius Caeser · 2005-09-17 16:48:39

Any news regarding the nature of the lake feature they identified during previous flyby?They seem to have problems in retreiving all data from last flyby.Anyways,the radar images submitted still look impressive.

Palomar · 2005-09-22 07:20:30

Any news regarding the nature of the lake feature they identified during previous flyby?They seem to have problems in retreiving all data from last flyby.Anyways,the radar images submitted still look impressive.

*Hi. Only what's been referenced in articles at the C-H homepage or similar articles written for various astronomy sites. I've not seen mention of data-retrieval difficulties.

**wow**

What more can be said.

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Tethys & Hyperion flyby --

Sept. 24 & 26, respectively. Short article lists flyby objectives.

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Canyonlands of Titan

The channels are roughly 0.6 miles across and perhaps 650 feet deep; some can be traced as far as 120 miles. Many of them have angular segments suggesting they may follow faults in Titan's crust.

Cool.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-23 13:01:34

Thick, thin, oval...

*Interesting pic...haven't seen one quite like it yet.

Tiny Atlas is the "oval." Cassini was aprox 304,000 miles from Atlas when the photo was snapped on August 2.

This image looks down onto the outer A ring, and through the Encke and Keeler gaps.

Strands of the F Ring also seen.

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Science objectives for Saturn

Oh, I do hope they find more info/evidence/data about lightning.

They're wondering if Saturn is "wet with" ammonia. C-H radar team will:

continuously scan Saturn from pole to pole, searching for ammonia cloud thermal emissions.

This will be done on September 23 - 24.

There's another image/caption I wanted to snag as well (clouds/storms on Saturn) but the link won't open. I've noticed the NASA/JPL homepage rather glitchy lately.

--Cindy

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-09-23 15:56:05

Best evidence yet
*...for a shoreline on Titan. They're calling it "dramatic." Area measures 1,060 by 106 miles. This is from Cassini radar, obtained during the latest flyby. Speculation continues regarding seepage of liquid from the ground and/or ground springs and/or rainfall.
--Cindy

great story,

you can also read some more shoreline info here
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huy … 9DE_0.html

Palomar · 2005-09-26 15:30:02

*Some more groovy, far-out photos from Cassini. These are must-see pics:

Tethys, Dione & Rings

Taken Sept. 22

-*-

Nature's art cannot be rivaled

Dione & Saturn's Rings. Also taken Sept. 22.

-*-

Tethys flyby photos are coming in. Have only found 1 so far:

Speckled weirdness :shock:

--Cindy

Julius Caeser · 2005-09-27 03:33:46

Thanks to Cindy,visitors visiting this forum will surely keep themselves up to date!So keep it up Cindy I have seen that first pic from Tethys and to be honest,I may not have seen any terrain like it so it seems that we're on to something new.Of course,we have not seen any close ups of Rhea and Dione yet,but if I may ,perhaps the terrain which mostly resembles Tethys' would be that of Ganymede and Callisto and I would think maybe Triton but again,I'd say they're still different in their own ways.Perhaps this is an example of a frozen watery world in a class different from what we've seen before. What do you think Cindy ?

Palomar · 2005-09-27 12:34:09

I have seen that first pic from Tethys and to be honest,I may not have seen any terrain like it so it seems that we're on to something new.Of course,we have not seen any close ups of Rhea and Dione yet,but if I may ,perhaps the terrain which mostly resembles Tethys' would be that of Ganymede and Callisto and I would think maybe Triton but again,I'd say they're still different in their own ways.Perhaps this is an example of a frozen watery world in a class different from what we've seen before. What do you think Cindy ?

*Hi JC. I think we've got plenty of surprises in store. Tethys seems to favor Callisto (very heavily pockmarked/cratered), based on the pics rolling in (as for Triton, we have so few photos of it; the only upclose images were the Voyager flyby pics).

As for differences in frozen watery worlds...Enceladus has the warm spot with the "tiger stripes" near its south pole, indicative of some sort of thermal activity, whereas Mimas seems utterly dead. Lots of surprises ahead. Seems the Solar System is much more varied than perhaps originally anticipated. That'd be great, if so.

-*-

Pic from Hyperion flyby

Looks like a gigantic natural sponge.

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Crescent Tethys & Saturn's Rings

Splendid. The crescent nearly "rests on" the Rings.

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Calypso

Nice. We don't often see photos of it. And now I'll get that John Denver song stuck in my head...

-*-

Lots of Tethys flyby closeup pics!

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-28 06:12:25

*Hyperion flyby closeups -- closest yet to this moon.

Fantastically weird

Check out especially the last photo. Caves? Notice in two of the dark (and seemingly deep) crevices there appears to be a rocky protruberance in the middle.

Some areas of Hyperion seem abnormally smooth compared with the riot of craters and cervices otherwise. :? Crazy moon.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-29 05:42:57

*Hyperion flyby closeups -- closest yet to this moon.
Fantastically weird

*More photos rolling in. The top two are extreme closeups:

Odd indeed

--Cindy

::EDIT:: Lonely Gem

Epimetheus and a section of Ring cut off by globe shadow.

Julius Caeser · 2005-09-29 13:05:37

Tethys close ups definitely looks more like Callisto;I'd have to agree with that! Hyperion from a distance looks like beehive!It looks like its covered with some sort of dust;there's even evidence of landslides in some of the craters. PS nothing to do with Saturn moons and planetary science but why PALOMAR, Cindy??

Julius Caeser · 2005-09-29 17:55:22

Radar image revealing a possible shoreline complete with channels draining into the flat dark terrain is very suggestive of a possible methane sea on Titan.That would be great news if it could be confirmed true.Pity that they could not retrieve all radar data.Unfortunately,I have not heard of any radar reflection from the dark surface to confirm its a liquid surface.To me that radar image looks very similar to images taken by the Huygens probe on its way to landing on Titan and yet,Huygens touched down on mud and not liquid.Hope that is not the case!

Palomar · 2005-09-30 06:57:18

Tethys close ups definitely looks more like Callisto;I'd have to agree with that! Hyperion from a distance looks like beehive!It looks like its covered with some sort of dust;there's even evidence of landslides in some of the craters. PS nothing to do with Saturn moons and planetary science but why PALOMAR, Cindy??

*Palomar -- the observatory in California (Caltech). Home of the famous 200" Hale telescope. It was frequently mentioned in the 1970s, when I was a child, in Sky & Telescope magazine, etc. A genuine fondness for it (good memories/sentiment), so renamed my Username to Palomar in honor of it.

Back on topic:

You're right about Hyperion -- it does look like a beehive.

Hyperion & Tethys dual flyby a "hit"

Repeats some photos and info. The pic of Hyperion labeled "Odd World" is one of the best yet of that moon.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-09-30 09:19:36

Tethys' Steep Scarps

*Great article. Am pressed for time, so will post highlights:

The ridges around Ithaca Chasma have been thoroughly hammered by impacts. This appearance suggests that Ithaca Chasma as a whole is very old.

This is especially noteworthy [diversity]:

There is brighter material in the floors of many craters on Tethys. That's the opposite situation from Saturn's oddly tumbling moon Hyperion, where dark material is concentrated in the bottoms of many craters.

-and-

...reveals a wide variety of surface colors across this terrain. The presence of this variety at such small scales may indicate a mixture of different surface materials.
Tethys was previously known to have color differences on its surface, especially on its trailing side, but this kind of color diversity is new to imaging scientists

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-04 11:59:44

*Am rushed for time. Will post these pronto:

Saturnian meterology

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Flowing "cat's eye"

Beautiful.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-07 06:06:32

*Next Cassini flyby will be of Dione. C will pass within 300 miles of Dione on October 11.

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Brilliant F Ring

Pandora in the photo. Erm... :x :shock: ... hard to see. F Ring kinks can be seen, and a fainter ringlet which scientists say is a single spiral Ring. Says Pandora is faintly lit by Saturnshine...wow, whoever wrote this caption has better eyesight than I.

-*-

Prometheus makes an impression

Interesting bit about the "gore":

Prometheus poses here with its latest creation: a dark, diagonal gore in the tenuous material interior to Saturn's F ring. The shepherd moon creates a new gore each time it comes closest to the F ring in its orbit of Saturn, and the memory of previous passes is preserved in the rings's structure for some time afterward.

Amazing.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-07 14:10:07

What's the bright spot on Titan?

*I've been on the lookout for this. It's a 300 mile wide "patch" near "Xanadu." It's not a hotspot (darn). It's not a mountain (no temperature drop corresponding to altitude). They seem rather certain it also is not a cloud, though if it is, it's been stationary for 3 years. A scientist quoted in the article says it could be a long-term lingering fog akin to San Francisco fogs but "on steroids."

Speculation is of surface composition difference, possibly something unknown contaminating the ice in the region.

Stay tuned.

--Cindy

Palomar · 2005-10-11 06:19:30

Dione and its craters

*Names of major craters mentioned. Today Cassini will perform a flyby of Dione, aprox 5 hours and 45 minutes after I submit this (8:15 a.m. EST). Cassini will sweep past at 300 miles from Dione. Am looking forward to the pics.

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Pandora & F Ring

Erm...how do they figure Pandora "occulted" the F Ring? To occult something mean to entirely hide/obscure it.

A graceful sweep of Rings...

--Cindy

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