Cassini and Saturn's moons - Page 15

Swift · #**421** (**permalink**) 06-March-2006, 09:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

I look at that and in my head I hear
"dah, dah, dah, da-dah
boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom
dah, dah, dah, da-dah
boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom-boom"
2001

John Dlugosz · #**422** (**permalink**) 06-March-2006, 09:32 PM

Found it! If you have Celestia (and if you don't, get it!) go to:
cel://PhaseLock/Sol:Cassini/Sol:Saturn:Enceladus/2006-03-03T03:47:51.67978?x=hSnt1gYWLrJiDA&y=W63U9lejlasB& z=ay3uS2aOvguQ/////////w&ow=0.343788&ox=0.651096&oy=0.404307&oz=-0.542604&select=Sol:Saturn:Enceladus&fov=0.524444& ts=0.000000&ltd=0&rf=106291&lm=49254

The large moon behind Enceladas is Dione. If you widen the view a bit, you can see Epimetheus to the lower left, just on the other side of the rings.

Track Enceladas from Cassini all day on the 3rd -- it's awsome, with several encounters with other moons and transits across the face of Saturn itself.

Wolverine · #**423** (**permalink**) 07-March-2006, 08:51 PM

Emily Lakdawalla blogged about this yesterday. The animation at the bottom is droolworthy.

Tacitus · #**424** (**permalink**) 09-March-2006, 07:31 AM

If you want another droolworthy animation, how about this one of the Hyperion flyby: http://um3k.justinphillips.googlepages.com/um3k.space ?

It really gives you the impression of a rock tumbling along in space - I could keep clicking the play button all day!

(An alternative gif animation: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/i...e=post&id=4222 )

ToSeek · #**425** (**permalink**) 09-March-2006, 04:33 PM

Iapetus' Terminator

antoniseb · #**426** (**permalink**) 09-March-2006, 04:34 PM

It looks like there will be a 2PM press conference to announce the probable existence of liquid water in Enceladus.

ngc3314 · #**427** (**permalink**) 25-March-2006, 05:16 PM

Cassini's been at it again - Janus with rings behind and backlit annulus of Titan's atmosphere beyond it. At least I'm pretty sure Janus has to be on the near side, from angular size. This is one of a series of 9 frames tracking on Janus in which Titan moves completely across the background.

Quickly edited: gotta add a series of Rhea transiting the crescent of Saturn.

VenusROVER · #**428** (**permalink**) 26-March-2006, 12:50 AM

Saturns system is truly magnificent the rings the moons and saturn itself. Cassini was a huge succsess but i think what we needed on the cassini probe was probes that plunge into saturns atmosphere take pictures and analyze atmospheric data that would have been awsome.

Launch window · #**429** (**permalink**) 26-March-2006, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngc3314

Cassini's been at it again - Janus with rings behind and backlit annulus of Titan's atmosphere beyond it. At least I'm pretty sure Janus has to be on the near side, from angular size. This is one of a series of 9 frames tracking on Janus in which Titan moves completely across the background.

Quickly edited: gotta add a series of Rhea transiting the crescent of Saturn.

wonderful ! The Cassini has been great, how long will the mission continue ?

Hamlet · #**430** (**permalink**) 27-March-2006, 03:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Launch window

wonderful ! The Cassini has been great, how long will the mission continue ?

Cassini went into orbit on July 1, 2004 and has a designed mission lifetime of 4 years. Here are some of Cassini's major milestones. This link shows all the planned tour dates out to 2008.

Barring problems and assuming there is maneuvering propellant left, Cassini could probably continue beyond this time. This also assumes there will be funding. Here's one set of ideas of what to do in an extended mission.

Cassini has been a wonderful mission and I can't wait to see what else it will discover.

ToSeek · #**431** (**permalink**) 27-March-2006, 04:27 PM

Galileo lasted almost 14 years from launch to end-of-mission. No reason why Cassini shouldn't be able to do similarly - that would give us until 2011.

01101001 · #**432** (**permalink**) 30-March-2006, 04:47 AM

Maybe we need a topic: Cassini and Saturn's Mini-Moons

Cassini Finds 'Missing Link' Moonlet Evidence in Saturn's Rings

Quote:

Scientists with NASA's Cassini mission have found evidence that a new class of small moonlets resides within Saturn's rings. There may be as many as 10 million of these objects within one of Saturn's rings alone.

The moonlets' existence could help answer the question of whether Saturn's rings were formed through the break-up of a larger body or are the remnants of the disk of material from which Saturn and its moons formed.

"These moonlets are likely to be chunks of the ancient body whose break-up produced Saturn's glorious rings," said Joseph Burns of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., a co-author of the report.

Planetary Photojournal: Locating the Propellors

Quote:

Careful analysis of the highest resolution images taken by Cassini's cameras as the spacecraft slipped into Saturn orbit revealed the four faint, propeller-shaped double-streaks in an otherwise bland part of the mid-A ring. Imaging scientists believe the "propellers" provide the first direct observation of the dynamical effects of moonlets approximately 100 meters (300 feet) in diameter. The propeller moonlets represent a hitherto unseen size-class of particles orbiting within the rings.

The left-hand panel provides broad context within the rings, and shows the B ring, Cassini Division, A ring and F ring. Image scale in the radial, or outward from Saturn, direction is about 45 kilometers (28 miles) per pixel; because the rings are viewed at an angle, the image scale in the longitudinal, or circumferential, direction is several times greater.

The center image is a closer view of the A ring, showing the radial locations where propeller features were spotted. The view is approximately 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) across from top to bottom and includes a large density wave at bottom (caused by the moons Janus and Epimetheus), as well as two smaller density waves. The footprints of the propeller discovery images are between density waves, in bland, quiescent regions of the ring.

The propellers appear as double dashes in the two close-up discovery images at the right and are circled. The unseen moonlets, each roughly the size of a football field, lie in the center of each structure. These two images were taken during Saturn orbit insertion on July 1, 2004, and are presented here at one-half scale. Resolution in the original images was 52 meters (171 feet) per pixel. The horizontal lines in the image represent electronic noise and do not correspond to ring features.

The propellers are about 5 kilometers (3 miles) long from tip to tip, and the radial offset (the "leading" dash is slightly closer to Saturn) is about 300 meters (1,000 feet).

The propeller structures are unchanged as they orbit the planet. In that way, they are much like the wave pattern that trails after a speedboat as it skims across a smooth lake. Such a pattern is hard to discern in a choppy sea. In much the same way, scientists think other effects may be preventing Cassini from seeing the propellers except in very bland parts of the rings.

antoniseb · #**433** (**permalink**) 30-March-2006, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 01101001

Maybe we need a topic: Cassini and Saturn's Mini-Moons

We have it in story coments. This is an interesting story. I like that we might learn something about how a large moon breaks up, and perhaps how it formed.

Wolverine · #**434** (**permalink**) 30-March-2006, 06:23 PM

I meant to post this the other day... from the pile of raw images, there are several taken last week (69694-69708) showing Enceladus' "Cold Faithful" in action. Pretty spiffy:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...iImageID=69706
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...iImageID=69697

harlequin · #**435** (**permalink**) 31-March-2006, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngc3314

Cassini's been at it again - Janus with rings behind and backlit annulus of Titan's atmosphere beyond it. At least I'm pretty sure Janus has to be on the near side, from angular size. This is one of a series of 9 frames tracking on Janus in which Titan moves completely across the background.

Just in case one anyone wants to see the who sequence, one can see it by editing the URL in your browser's navigation bar. Just subtract (or add) one the number at the end of the URL, load the new image, and repeat.

harlequin · #**436** (**permalink**) 31-March-2006, 05:38 AM

Oh why not: here is the sequence (I am limited to 8 images so I will just link to the first and last):

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi.../N00055793.jpg

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi.../N00055802.jpg

Hamlet · #**437** (**permalink**) 31-March-2006, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harlequin

Just in case one anyone wants to see the who sequence, one can see it by editing the URL in your browser's navigation bar. Just subtract (or add) one the number at the end of the URL, load the new image, and repeat.

Cool images! I made the sequence into an animated GIF here. The file is about 405 Kb.

ngc3314 · #**438** (**permalink**) 12-May-2006, 02:54 PM

Shameless bump: Crescent Titan behind edge-on rings near the limb of likewise crescent Saturn. You can just see scattered sunlight sneaking around one side of the rings.

suntrack2 · #**439** (**permalink**) 12-May-2006, 03:22 PM

see a imagination image of cassini and saturn along with its moons in deep black sky.

the saturn's secrets yet unfold to open, world is curious to look a photo of a very close distance visit by cassini-saturn.