Cassini and Saturn's moons - Page 16

mickal555 · #**451** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 07:45 AM

Quote:

This magnified view shows tiny Polydeuces, a moon discovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft last month, is a mere 3 kilometers (2 miles) across. Along with much larger Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across), Polydeuces orbits Saturn at the same distance as large, icy Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across).

http://www.saturndaily.com/reports/C..._Moon_999.html

jt-3d · #**452** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 07:52 AM

Now that's adorable. Still, 2 miles across it might be nasty changing it's little space diaper.

mickal555 · #**453** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 08:24 AM

I just wounder when we'll start naming the dust in the rings...

"The what is the definition of a moon" Debate

jt-3d · #**454** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 12:00 PM

I definately agree. Where will the line be drawn? I just thought the space baby thing was cuter.

Blob · #**455** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 12:35 PM

Here are two other links about Polydeuces
Saturn's Tiny Moon Polydeuces
Cassini spacecraft continues making new Saturn discoveries

jt-3d · #**456** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 12:42 PM

Wow, old news I see. I still think it's cute.

Doodler · #**457** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickal555

I just wounder when we'll start naming the dust in the rings...

"The what is the definition of a moon" Debate

Its a distinct co-orbital body. Seems fair enough. Heck, there are asteroids smaller than that with names.

ngc3314 · #**458** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 06:42 PM

Ooooohhhhh. Razor-thin crescent Saturn and the annulus of sunlight through Titan's atmosphere, apparently broken where the darkened rings get in the way.

ToSeek · #**459** (**permalink**) 13-July-2006, 07:16 PM

Merged in separate thread about Polydeuces.

Spacemad · #**460** (**permalink**) 14-July-2006, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngc3314

Ooooohhhhh. Razor-thin crescent Saturn and the annulus of sunlight through Titan's atmosphere, apparently broken where the darkened rings get in the way.

These are truely magnificent images of Saturn! I love the images Cassini sends back!

About the moon debate: like the planet debate, this is something that could go on forever, or at least until some governing body puts an end to the debate with a proper, scientific explanation that is accepted by the majority. (we know full well there will never be a consensus that will please all!)

Blob · #**461** (**permalink**) 17-July-2006, 06:47 PM

Titan T7 Radar swath released, (from September 7, 2005).

Read more

Blob · #**462** (**permalink**) 18-July-2006, 02:18 AM

Cassini's radar will illuminate the high northern reaches of Titan during the next flyby on July 22.
The T16 flyby is scheduled to have an altitude of only 950km.

Read more (1.6Mb, PDF)

Source

ToSeek · #**463** (**permalink**) 19-July-2006, 10:02 PM

NASA Cassini Radar Reveals Earth-like Land on Titan

Quote:

New radar images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft reveal geological features very similar to Earth on an Australia-size, bright region on Saturn's moon Titan.

In one radar strip over 4,500 kilometers (2,796 miles) long, Cassini provided a virtual goldmine, telling the region's complex geological story.

Radar images show that the region, named Xanadu, is surrounded by darker terrain, reminiscent of a free-standing landmass. At the western edge of Xanadu, dark sand dunes give way to land cut by river networks, hills and valleys. These narrow river networks flow onto darker areas, which may be lakes. A crater formed by the impact of an asteroid or by water volcanism is visible. More channels snake through the eastern part of Xanadu, ending on a dark plain where dunes, abundant elsewhere, seem absent. Mountains, roughly the height of the Appalachian Mountains, crisscross Xanadu.

BigDon · #**464** (**permalink**) 19-July-2006, 10:15 PM

Nice post Toseek, I just hope the woo-woos don't see an extensive road system. Or even worse a giant Martian Rock Squid. (They grow bigger on Titan because of the lower gravity don't you know.)

Blob · #**465** (**permalink**) 19-July-2006, 11:28 PM

This image of Titan was acquired on April 30, 2006, by Cassini's radar instrument in synthetic-aperture mode over the continent-sized region called Xanadu.

Xanadu is one of the brightest areas on Titan, measuring about 4,000 kilometres east to west and 2,000 kilometres north to south. The radar coverage shown ranges from 220 to 490 kilometres from top to bottom, and is about 4,850 kilometres wide. Smallest details in this image are about 400 meters across.

Read more

Credit NASA/JPL/Cassini team

01101001 · #**466** (**permalink**) 19-July-2006, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blob

This image of Titan [...]

Topic Cassini and Saturn's Moons

ToSeek · #**467** (**permalink**) 20-July-2006, 05:19 AM

Posts moved.

Blob · #**468** (**permalink**) 21-July-2006, 01:58 PM

Hum,

Quote:

The highlands of Titan may be riddled with caves, according to the latest images of Saturn's giant moon.

Read more (tnx)

"the finges of Xanadu" - corrected now.

ToSeek · #**469** (**permalink**) 21-July-2006, 05:29 PM

New Scientist article:

Titan may be riddled with caves

Quote:

The highlands of Titan may be riddled with caves, according to the latest images of Saturn's giant moon.

On 30 April, the Cassini spacecraft flew over a large bright region called Xanadu that spans about 4000 kilometres across.

Xanadu was already thought to be a highland area, where bright hills of ice poke up above Titan's dark sooty plains. A new picture made with the spacecraft's haze-penetrating radar confirms this (watch a 6.7 Mb QuickTime movie of the radar images).

In fact, the interior of the region is crossed by mountain chains that tower more than a kilometre high. "These are the highest mountains measured on Titan so far," says radar team member Ralph Lorenz of the University of Arizona in Tucson, US.

But it seems that the mountains are not solid. The radio waves bouncing off Xanadu reveal that it has peculiar electrical properties – specifically a low dielectric constant.

"The only reasonable material makeup that could have a very low dielectric constant and still hold together enough to form the structures that we see would be some sort of porous stuff – most likely porous water ice," says another team member, Steve Wall of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, US.

(Blob beat me to this article, but he doesn't have a clickable link to it in his post.)