[julesstoop]

Higher resolution versions of the movies curiousuburb mentions in his posting can be found on the ESA site. Unfortunately they are in WMV...

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multime...on_25Apr06.wmv

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/multime...ie_25Apr06.wmv

[curiousuburb]

Sweet updates today...

Titan, rings, and tiny Epimetheus all in one frame

Stunning Vistas May 12, 2006 Full-Res: PIA07786 The Cassini spacecraft delivers this stunning vista showing small, battered Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F rings stretching across the scene. The prominent dark region visible in the A ring is the Encke Gap, in which the moon Pan and several narrow ringlets reside. Moon-driven features that mark the A ring are easily seen to the left and right of the Encke Gap. The Encke Gap is 325 kilometers (200 miles) wide. Pan is 26 kilometers (16 miles) across. In an optical illusion, the narrow F ring, outside the A ring, appears to fade across the disk of Titan. A couple of bright clumps can be seen in the F ring. Epimetheus is 116 kilometers (72 miles) across and giant Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2006, at a distance of approximately 667,000 kilometers (415,000 miles) from Epimetheus and 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Titan. The image captures the illuminated side of the rings. The image scale is 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Epimetheus and 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel on Titan.

And a view only available from the 'dark side'...

Saturn's Night Colors May 11, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08176 This rare color view of Saturn's night side shows how the rings dimly illuminate the southern hemisphere, giving it a dull golden glow. Part of the northern dark side is just visible at top -- the illumination it receives being far less than the south. The unlit side of the rings is shown here. The portion of the rings closest to Cassini is within the dark shadow of Saturn; the bright distant portion is outside the planet's shadow. A crescent Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) appears below the rings at left. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this color view. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 2, 2006, at a distance of approximately 3.8 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Saturn and 3.5 kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Tethys. The image scale is about 23 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Saturn.

There are also some new Titan dune shots up.

[Brad]

Beautiful.

Keep 'em coming, 'burb.

[curiousuburb]

Death Star At Saturn... (with movie links)

[curiousuburb]

Update:

Janus and Prometheus from below the Ring plane.

So Close . . . June 5, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08192 Saturn's moons Janus and Prometheus look close enough to touch in this stunningly detailed view. From just beneath the ringplane, Cassini stares at Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) on the near side of the rings and Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) on the far side. The image shows that Prometheus is more elongated than Janus. The view takes in the Cassini Division (4,800 kilometers, or 2,980 miles wide), from its outer edge to about halfway across its width. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 29, 2006 at a distance of approximately 218,000 kilometers (135,000 miles) from Janus and 379,000 kilometers (236,000 miles) from Prometheus. Image scale is about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel on Janus and 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel on Prometheus. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

[curiousuburb]

Moons and Rings update:

Rhea occults Enceladus... (check out the Rhea-shine on Enceladus)

Now You See Me... May 18, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08180 Enceladus briefly passes behind the crescent of Rhea in these images, which are part of a "mutual event" sequence taken by Cassini. These sequences help scientists refine our understanding of the orbits of Saturn's moons. The images were taken one minute apart as smaller Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) darted behind Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) as seen from the Cassini spacecraft's point of view. The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 14, 2006, at a distance of approximately 3.4 million kilometers (2.1 million miles) from Rhea and 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Enceladus. The image scale is 20 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 24 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel on Enceladus.

Two more of occultations between the Rings, Moons, and Saturn.

The Dark Side of Saturn (with Enceladus)

Dark Side of Saturn's Moon June 8, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08195 Cassini stares toward the night side of Saturn, seen here on the right, as the active icy moon Enceladus glides past. The moon's now famous icy plumes spew out of the south polar region (see Fountains of Enceladus), providing a fresh supply of material for Saturn's E ring. Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across. Saturn's shadow stretches over the rings above the crescent moon. The image was acquired in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus and 2.3 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Saturn. The image was taken at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 159 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel on Enceladus.

If you look closely at the larger image (below), you can see the Fountains of Enceladus emitting particles from the south pole!



----

And Mimas peeking out from behind the Rings

Hiding a Moon June 7, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08194 The dim, unlit side of Saturn's rings hides a secret in this view. Shy Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) can be seen peeking out from behind the rings below center. The bright features in this scene, including the F ring along the rings' periphery, are regions where tiny, dust-sized particles scatter light toward the camera. This phenomenon is often seen at high phase angles -- that is, Sun-ring-spacecraft angles -- approaching 180 degrees. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 3, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Mimas and phase angle of 161 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.

[curiousuburb]

Titan gets the Rings occluding treatment

A Sight to Behold June 9, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08196 Cassini's "eyes" -- its powerful imaging cameras -- bear witness to the majestic and spectacular sights of the Saturn system, as this views attests. Here, the probe gazes upon Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) in the distance beyond Saturn and its dark and graceful rings. This view was taken from above the ringplane and looks toward the unlit side of the rings. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The image was obtained using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn and 4.1 million kilometers (2.6 million miles) from Titan. The image was taken at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 149 degrees. Image scale is 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Saturn.

People forget how thin the ringplane can appear (and this isn't the thinnest-appearance shot from Cassini), and that Titan's atmosphere is quite hazy.

[curiousuburb]

Enceladus shows its tail again

A Moon's Telltale Tail June 12, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08197 The plumes of Enceladus continue to gush icy particles into Saturn orbit, making this little moon one of a select group of geologically active bodies in the solar system. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) is seen here against the night side of Saturn. The extended exposure time used to image the plumes also makes the southern hemisphere, illuminated by ring-shine, appear bright. The image was acquired in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus and 2.3 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Saturn. The image was taken at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 159 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel on Enceladus.

[curiousuburb]

NASA has posted an enhanced version of the Enceladus plume image

Scattered Ice, Scattered Light June 14, 2006 An enhanced close-up view shows at least two distinct jets spraying a mist of fine particles from the south polar region of Enceladus. The particles in the plume scatter sunlight most effectively at high Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft angles, or phase angles, making the plumes appear bright. This image shows the night side of Saturn and the active moon against dark sky. Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across. Some artifacts due to image compression and cosmic rays striking the camera's detector remain as noise in the image. The image was acquired in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Enceladus and 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn. The image was taken at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 159 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.

As well as a nice IR image of the Rings and Dione

Saturn's Night Lights June 16, 2006 The dark side of the ringplane glows with scattered light, including the luminous F ring, which shines like a rope of brilliant neon. Below, Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) presents an exquisitely thin crescent. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The image was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 3, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 160 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel.

[curiousuburb]

Rhea and Dione do the moonshine/occultation thing

Uncovering Rhea June 20, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08203 Two Saturnian moons meet in the sky. Dione departs after crossing the face of Rhea for several minutes. Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across), at right, has a notably smoother-looking surface than Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), suggesting the former has been modified more recently. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Dione and 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Rhea. The Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle is about 134 degrees on both moons. Image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Dione and 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Rhea.

[Brad]

Beautiful.

Again, thanks for keeping us updated.

[curiousuburb]

Moon movies from Cassini!

In addition to the usual impressive image updates, the Cassini-Huygens project gnomes have released a bunch of new movie clips.

Some are .GIF, some are .MOV, and some are .MPEG format files, each compiled from camera images of various moons interacting with each other, or the Rings, or Saturn itself. In some cases, you can see some of the rotation, in others the spacecraft motion or orbital mechanics seem to make this more difficult.

Click images for alternate movie formats or source pages.

Silent Spheres

In a silent orbital ballet, Saturn's crater-covered moon Rhea slips between the moons Mimas and Enceladus. The dark sides of Enceladus (bottom) and Mimas (top) are dimly illuminated by reflected light from Saturn. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across, Mimas is 397 kilometers (247 miles) across, and Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across. The movie was created using 59 clear-filter images taken over a period of about 40 minutes. The images were acquired by the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 27, 2006, at a mean distance of approximately 3 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Rhea, 3.5 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Mimas, and 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) from Enceladus. The image scale is approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Rhea, 21 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel on Mimas, and 22 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Enceladus.

Staying with Epimetheus

Three of Saturn's moons swim past in this movie sequence of images from the Cassini spacecraft. These sequences, called mutual events, are useful for refining scientists' understanding the orbits of the moons. The movie follows Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) as it passes in front of Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) and then Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across). The faint object that appears at the left, below the ringplane, halfway through the movie is a background star. The movie was created using 24 clear-filter images taken over a period of about 40 minutes. The images were acquired by the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 5, 2006, at a mean distance of approximately 3 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Epimetheus. The image scale is approximately 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Epimetheus, 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Titan and 20 kilometers (12 miles) per pixel on Dione.

Cruising with Pan

Saturn's small, walnut-shaped moon, Pan, embedded in the planet's rings, coasts along in this movie clip from the Cassini spacecraft. The movie begins with Pan (26 kilometers, or 16 miles across) and the rings against the night side of Saturn. Cassini stays fixed on Pan as the moon heads toward the outside edge, or ansa, of the Encke Gap (325 kilometers, or 200 miles wide) in which it orbits. Saturn's dark shadow is seen stretching across the middle of the ringplane. Midway through the sequence, the far side of the rings emerges from behind the planet, but eventually is completely darkened by Saturn's shadow. The small, bright moving object that appears from the lower left, near the end of the sequence, is a bright background star. The 40 images in this movie were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 29, 2006, at a distance of approximately 209,000 kilometers (130,000 miles) from Pan. The image scale is approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) per pixel.

Three Moons Meet

Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus are captured swinging around Saturn's rings and past Dione in this movie sequence from the Cassini spacecraft. The spacecraft repeatedly imaged the two moons just as they were about to round the outside edge of the rings, which were out of view to the left. Janus and Epimetheus orbit Saturn at nearly the same distance and velocity, although (as seen here) Janus is several tens of thousands of kilometers ahead of Epimetheus and farther from Cassini. Dione is actually quite far in the background compared to the small moons. At the beginning of the movie, Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) is at the left, Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) is at the center, and Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is at the right. The movie was created using 18 clear-filter images taken over a period of about 30 minutes. The images were acquired by the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 30, 2005, at a mean distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Janus and 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Epimetheus. The image scale is approximately 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel on Janus and Epimetheus, and 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Dione.

Rhea Eclipses Dione

Two crescent moons dance around Saturn as far-off Dione slips behind its sibling moon Rhea. From Cassini's perspective, Rhea's bulk (1,528 kilometers, 949 miles wide) completely covered her smaller celestial companion Dione (1,126 kilometers, 700 miles wide) for about three minutes before the smaller moon re-emerged. The images used for this movie sequence were taken over approximately 27 minutes as Cassini stared at Rhea. The images were aligned to keep Rhea close to the center of the scene. Additional frames were inserted among the 38 original Cassini images in order to smooth the appearance of Dione's movement -- a scheme called interpolation. For another eclipse movie showing these two moons, see PIA06199. The clear-filter images in this movie were acquired with the Cassini narrow-angle camera on Dec. 5, 2005, from a distance of 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Rhea and 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Dione. Image scale is about 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Dione.

Rhea Occults Saturn

The slim crescent of the moon Rhea glides silently onto the featureless, golden face of Saturn in this mesmerizing color movie. In an interplay of contrast and shadow, the moon goes dark against the planet, and then its crescent suddenly brightens as it slips in front of Saturn's night side. This view looks down onto the unlit side of Saturn's rings, which cast soft, linear shadows onto the planet's northern hemisphere. The movie was created using 60 images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters over a period of about 45 minutes. The images were acquired by the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 21, 2006, at a distance of approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Rhea. The image scale is approximately 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.

And although today's image update doesn't move, it is impressive nonetheless...

Enceladus and Titan

A Tale of Two Moons June 21, 2006 Full-Res: PIA07787 Many denizens of the Saturn system wear a uniformly gray mantle of darkened ice, but not these two moons. The brightest body in the solar system, Enceladus, is contrasted here against Titan's smoggy, golden murk. Ironically, what these two moons hold in common gives rise to their stark contrasting colors. Both bodies are, to varying degrees, geologically active. For Enceladus, its southern polar vents emit a spray of icy particles that coats the small moon, giving it a clean, white veneer. On Titan, yet undefined processes are supplying the atmosphere with methane and other chemicals that are broken down by sunlight. These chemicals are creating the thick yellow-orange haze that is spread through the atmosphere and, over geologic time, falls and coats the surface. The thin, bluish haze along Titan's limb is caused when sunlight is scattered by haze particles roughly the same size as the wavelength of blue light, or around 400 nanometers. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained on Feb. 5, 2006, using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 miles) from Titan. Resolution in the original images was 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. The view has been magnified by a factor of two.

[curiousuburb]

Glorious new image of Titan, the Rings, and Janus.
Nice atmospheric detail on Titan.

Ring of Light June 30, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08211 Dazzling Titan glows with a 360-degree sunset as light scatters through its very extended atmosphere. Some structure is visible in the hazes of the northern polar hood. To the left is Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across), far off on the opposite side of the ringplane. The rings show their unlit side to Cassini, as the spacecraft viewed them from slightly above the ringplane. A world with strikingly Earth-like physical processes, frigid Titan is Saturn's largest natural satellite, at 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. Titan's image is saturated at the 5 o'clock position. The view was acquired in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 2, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 163 degrees. Cassini was 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) from Janus. Image scale is 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel on Titan and 22 kilometers (14 miles) on Janus.

Those who are curious can now get a podcast of Cassini highlights.

[julesstoop]

It's actually a podcast about everything JPL. So it has episodes on many different (interplanetary) mission. Interesting stuff.

[curiousuburb]

Enceladus plumes, and Rings, and Moons... beautiful new images from Saturn

The Moons Are the Stars July 7, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08216 The real jewels of Saturn are arguably its stunning collection of icy moons. Seen here with the unlit side of the rings are Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across at right), Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across at left) and Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across at center) with its fountain-like geysers. The faint, vertical banding in the image is due to "noise" in the spacecraft electronics. This noise is difficult to remove from an image that has a very wide dynamic range--i.e., a wide range of brightness levels--as in the difference between gleaming Titan and the faint plumes of Enceladus. Additionally, a reflection of Titan's light within the camera optics is likely responsible for the faint secondary image of Titan's limb to the left of the giant moon. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus, 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan and 4.4 million kilometers (2.7 million miles) from Tethys. The Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 160 degrees on Enceladus. Image scale is 23 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Enceladus, 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan and 26 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Tethys.

Softly Glowing Scene July 10, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08217 Enceladus blasts its icy spray into space in this unlit-side ring view that also features a tiny sliver of Rhea. The south polar region of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) peeks out from beneath the rings to the right of Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus and 4.6 million kilometers (2.9 million miles) from Rhea. The Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 161 degrees. Image scale is 23 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Enceladus.

A Captivating Vision July 11, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08218 Cassini captured this arresting view of Saturn just before Epimetheus crossed into the blinding glare of the planet's sunlit crescent and was lost. As it orbits Saturn, Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) hugs the outside edge of the narrow F ring, beyond the orbit of Pandora. The F ring is the brightest ring feature seen here. Saturn's southern hemisphere is softly lit by sunlight reflected off the rings. A less obvious feature in this view is the planet's shadow, which begins to darken the inner regions of the rings at left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Epimetheus and 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Saturn. The Sun-Epimetheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 161 degrees. Image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Saturn.

[AWR]

Interesting and beautiful shots. Thanks for the effort, curiousuburb.

[curiousuburb]

Shine on you crazy spheres.

Light from Many Paths July 13, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08220 The unlit side of the rings glows with scattered sunlight as two moons circle giant Saturn. The light reaching Cassini in this view has traveled many paths before being captured. At left, Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) presents its dark side. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across), on the far side of the rings, is lit by "Saturnshine," or reflected sunlight coming from the planet. Saturn, in turn, is faintly lit in the south by light reflecting off the rings. Saturn's shadow darkens the rings, tapering off toward the left side of this view. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Mimas, 4.3 kilometers (2.7 miles) from Enceladus and 4.1 million kilometers (2.6 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Saturn.

Rings Occulting Titan July 12, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08219 Titan shines beyond the rings like a brilliant ring of fire, its light gleaming here and there through the gaps in Saturn's magnificent plane of ice. Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is surrounded by a thick photochemical haze which scatters the Sun's light. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 158 degrees. Image scale is 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan.

Titan's Kiss July 14, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08221 Saturn's two largest moons meet in the sky in a rare embrace. Smog-enshrouded Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) glows to the left of airless Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.6 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Rhea and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. The Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 157 degrees on Rhea. Image scale is 22 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan.

[curiousuburb]

Moons and Rings update:

Planetglow July 19, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08224 Two frigid moons, Rhea and Enceladus, shine in reflected light from Saturn. In such low light and at great distance, Rhea's cratered surface looks deceptively smooth. Light from the distant Sun creates the bright crescent on each moon and scatters off the icy spray above the south pole of Enceladus. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across, and Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across. The image background appears generally brighter across its center due to the diffuse E ring, which is created by the jets of material from Enceladus. The faint vertical banding in the image is due to "noise" in the spacecraft electronics. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 13, 2006 at a distance of approximately 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Enceladus and 4.5 million kilometers (2.8 million miles) from Rhea. The Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 159 degrees. Image scale is 24 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 27 kilometers (17 miles) per pixel on Rhea.

Boosting the Signal July 21, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08226 The ice jets of Enceladus send particles streaming into space hundreds of kilometers above the south pole of this spectacularly active moon. Some of the particles escape to form the diffuse E ring around Saturn. This color-coded image was processed to enhance faint signals, making the contours and extent of the fainter, larger-scale component of the plume easier to see. The bright strip behind and above Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across) is the E ring, in which this intriguing body resides. The small round object at far left is a background star. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 24, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 162 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel.

Darkened Moons, Searing F Ring July 20, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08225 Two ring moons chase each other as their larger sibling looks on.This view shows Tethys at lower left, along with perpetually mingling Epimetheus at left of center, and Janus at center. Tethys is 1,071 kilometers (665 miles) across; Epimetheus is 116 kilometers (72 miles) across; and Janus is 181 kilometers (113 miles) across. In the background, the faint G ring and brilliant F ring bound the location where Cassini entered Saturn orbit. The spacecraft passed between these two rings upon arrival in mid-2004. Near the right side of the image, a couple of ringlets within the Encke gap glow faintly. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 15, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Janus, 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Epimetheus, and 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) from Tethys. Image scale is 24 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel on Janus and Epimetheus and 22 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Tethys.

Meanwhile, some new radar from Titan is up.

Cassini's Search for Lakes Continues After revealing a land of mountains and river channels near Titan's equator in April, Cassini's radar will illuminate the high northern reaches of Titan during the next flyby on July 21, 2006 (July 22 UTC). In winter's shadow since the arrival of Cassini in 2004, Titan's northern terrain could harbor methane lakes, which shrink in summer and expand in winter. The Cassini spacecraft's Titan Radar Mapper instrument imaged this area atop Xanadu, the bright area of Titan, on April 30, 2006. The darkest areas could contain liquids, which tend to reflect the radar beam away from Cassini in the absence of winds, making the area appear quite dark.

Cassini Reveals Titan's Xanadu Region To Be an Earth-like Land July 19, 2006 (Source: NASA/JPL) Panning west to east, the geologic features include river channels, mountains and hills, a crater and possible lakes. + Play QuickTime Movie (6.7 MB) New radar images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed geological features similar to Earth on Xanadu, an Australia-sized, bright region on Saturn's moon Titan. These radar images, from a strip more than 4,500 kilometers (2,796 miles) long, show Xanadu is surrounded by darker terrain, reminiscent of a free-standing landmass. At the region's western edge, 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 also visible. More channels snake through the eastern part of Xanadu, ending on a dark plain where dunes, abundant elsewhere, seem absent. Appalachian-sized mountains crisscross the region. "We could only speculate about the nature of this mysterious bright country, too far from us for details to be revealed by Earth-based and space-based telescopes. Now, under Cassini's powerful radar eyes, facts are replacing speculation," said Dr. Jonathan Lunine, Cassini interdisciplinary scientist at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "Surprisingly, this cold, faraway region has geological features remarkably like Earth." Click image for more 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. Titan is a place of twilight, dimmed by a haze of hydrocarbons surrounding it. Cassini's radar instrument can see through the haze by bouncing radio signals off the surface and timing their return. In the radar images, bright regions indicate rough or scattering material, while a dark region might be smoother or more absorbing material, possibly liquid. Xanadu was first discovered by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 1994 as a striking bright spot seen in infrared imaging. When Cassini's radar system viewed Xanadu on April 30, 2006, it found a surface modified by winds, rain, and the flow of liquids. At Titan's frigid temperatures, the liquid cannot be water; it is almost certainly methane or ethane. "Although Titan gets far less sunlight and is much smaller and colder than Earth, Xanadu is no longer just a mere bright spot, but a land where rivers flow down to a sunless sea," Lunine said. Observations by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe, which Cassini carried to Titan, and by NASA's Voyager spacecraft strongly hint that both methane rain and dark orange hydrocarbon solids fall like soot from the moon's dark skies. Click image for more A network of river channels is located atop Xanadu. On Xanadu, liquid methane might fall as rain or trickle from springs. Rivers of methane might carve the channels and carry off grains of material to accumulate as sand dunes elsewhere on Titan. "This land is heavily tortured, convoluted and filled with hills and mountains," said Steve Wall, the Cassini radar team's deputy leader at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "There appear to be faults, deeply cut channels and valleys. Also, it appears to be the only vast area not covered by organic dirt. Xanadu has been washed clean. What is left underneath looks like very porous water ice, maybe filled with caverns." "In the 1980s, it took the shuttle imaging radar to discover subsurface rivers in the Sahara. Similarly, if it hadn't been for the Cassini radar, we would have missed all of this. We have a newly discovered continent to explore," Wall said. Cassini will view Titan again on Saturday, July 22, exploring the high northern latitudes. In the next two years the orbiter will fly by Titan 29 times, nearly twice as many encounters as in the first half of Cassini's four-year prime mission. Twelve of the planned flybys will use radar.

[julesstoop]

Strong evidence for lakes on Titan

From NASA

The Cassini spacecraft, using its radar system, has discovered very strong evidence for hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Dark patches, which resemble terrestrial lakes, seem to be sprinkled all over the high latitudes surrounding Titan's north pole. Scientists have speculated that liquid methane or ethane might form lakes on Titan, particularly near the somewhat colder polar regions. In the images, a variety of dark patches, some with channels leading in or out of them, appear. The channels have a shape that strongly implies they were carved by liquid. Some of the dark patches and connecting channels are completely black, that is, they reflect back essentially no radar signal, and hence must be extremely smooth. In some cases rims can be seen around the dark patches, suggesting deposits that might form as liquid evaporates. The abundant methane in Titan's atmosphere is stable as a liquid under Titan conditions, as is its abundant chemical product, ethane, but liquid water is not. For all these reasons, scientists interpret the dark areas as lakes of liquid methane or ethane, making Titan the only body in the solar system besides Earth known to possess lakes. Because such lakes may wax and wane over time, and winds may alter the roughness of their surfaces. Repeat coverage of these areas should test whether indeed these are bodies of liquid. These two radar images were acquired by the Cassini radar instrument in synthetic aperture mode on July 21, 2006. The top image centered near 80 degrees north, 92 degrees west measures about 420 kilometers by 150 kilometers (260 miles by 93 miles). The lower image centered near 78 degrees north, 18 degrees west measures about 475 kilometers by 150 kilometers (295 miles by 93 miles). Smallest details in this image are about 500 meters (1,640 feet) across. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries.

This is something quite revolutionary. They would be the first bodies of liquid found on the surface of a planet other than dear mother Earth.

[curiousuburb]

Rings and Moons update:

Rings and Rhea

Coy Rhea August 9, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08239 The rings cannot hide the ragged, icy crescent of Rhea, here imaged in color by the Cassini spacecraft. The second-largest moon of Saturn shines brightly through gaps in the rings. Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) lies beyond the dim, unlit side of the rings. A diffuse clump of material lies in the F ring, on the side nearest to Cassini. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view, which approximates the scene as it might appear to human eyes. The view was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 1, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 118 degrees. Image scale is 7 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel.

Rhea / Enceladus Occultation Redux

Rhea Releases Enceladus August 7, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08237 Two slim crescents smile toward the Cassini spacecraft following an occultation event. Taken only five minutes after Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) first approached the limb of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), this view shows the bright little moon emerging from behind the larger moon's crescent. (See Enceladus Approaches for the earlier view.) The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.4 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Rhea and 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 142 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 11 kilometers (7 miles) on Enceladus.

Hyperion in False Colour

Eroded Moon August 4, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08236 This extreme false-color view of Hyperion shows color variation across the impact-blasted surface of the tumbling moon. To create this false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superposed over a clear-filter image that preserves the relative brightness across the body. The combination of the color map and brightness image shows how colors vary across Hyperion's surface in relation to geologic features. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy surface material on Hyperion (280 kilometers, or 174 miles across). The images used to create this view were acquired using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2006 at a distance of approximately 294,000 kilometers (183,000 miles) from Hyperion. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.

Saturn and Rigel

Cassini: the Profiler August 8, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08238 The Cassini spacecraft continues to profile the haze structure and opacity in Saturn's upper atmosphere with images like this, which captures Rigel, a star in Orion whose brightness is well-known, as it passes behind the planet. The extent to which the star's light is dimmed tells scientists about the sizes and amounts of the molecules and tiny particles that make up the atmospheric hazes. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 30, 2004 at a distance of approximately 446,000 kilometers (277,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.

Titan, Enceladus, and the Rings

Candle in the Dark August 3, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08235 Saturn's rings cut across an eerie scene that is ruled by Titan's luminous crescent and globe-encircling haze, broken by the small moon Enceladus, whose icy jets are dimly visible at its south pole. North is up. The scattered light around planet-sized Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) makes the moon's solid surface visible in silhouette. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) enjoys far clearer skies than its giant sibling moon. This view shows the unlit side of Saturn's rings. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 160 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 23 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 32 kilometers (20 miles) on Titan.

Iapetus, the Two-Faced Moon

World of Contrast August 2, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08234 This Cassini spacecraft view shows how the bright and dark regions on Iapetus fit together like the seams of a baseball. Some of the material that covers the moon's dark, leading side spills over into regions on the brighter trailing side, creating the feature near upper right referred to by some scientists as "the Moat." (See Iapetus by Saturn Shine for a higher resolution view of this region.) The large impact basin above center in the dark terrain has a diameter of about 550 kilometers (340 miles). This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across). North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Iapetus. Image scale is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.

[initialsBB]

Excellent thread. Great work and hats off, curiusuburb !

[curiousuburb]

'Chinese Lantern' Technique Helps Track Clouds at Saturn October 5, 2006 The image was made with data from Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, which can image the planet at 352 different wavelengths. A new image of Saturn demonstrates a technique that creates a 'Chinese lantern' effect, showing Saturn's deep clouds silhouetted against the planet's warm, glowing interior. Seen this way, Saturn's interior shows surprising activity underneath the overlying haze, with a great variety of cloud shapes and sizes. Because upper-level hazes and clouds obscure the view of these deep clouds in visible light, imaging clouds in the depths of Saturn is not practical using visible-light cameras. Several recent images obtained by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer were combined in a way that highlights the deep clouds in silhouette against the background radiation of heat generated by Saturn's interior. This literally lights the planet from the inside, like a lantern. Clouds and hazes in Saturn's northern hemisphere are noticeably thinner than those in its southern hemisphere. This is thought to be a seasonal effect; this idea will be tested as Saturn's northern hemisphere enters springtime in the next few years. Bright red colors indicate areas relatively free of deep-level clouds and particles, while darker red colors are cloudy regions. Images like these show Saturn's deep clouds under both daytime and nighttime conditions.

New Ring discovered... and Earth makes a cameo appearance for Cassini

click images for links

Scientists Discover New Ring and Other Features at Saturn September 19, 2006 (Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Space Science Institute) Saturn sports a new ring in an image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Sunday, Sept. 17, during a one-of-a-kind observation. Other spectacular sights captured by Cassini's cameras include wispy fingers of icy material stretching out tens of thousands of kilometers from the active moon, Enceladus, and a cameo color appearance by planet Earth. The new ring is a tenuous feature, and coincides with the orbits of Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus The images were obtained during the longest solar occultation of Cassini's four-year mission. During a solar occultation, the sun passes directly behind Saturn, and Cassini lies in the shadow of Saturn while the rings are brilliantly backlit. Usually, an occultation lasts only about an hour, but this time it was a 12-hour marathon. Sunday's occultation allowed Cassini to map the presence of microscopic particles that are not normally visible across the ring system. As a result, Cassini saw the entire inner Saturnian system in a new light. Wispy fingers of bright, icy material reach tens of thousands of kilometers outward from Saturn's moon Enceladus into the E ring The new ring is a tenuous feature, visible outside the brighter main rings of Saturn and inside the G and E rings, and coincides with the orbits of Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus. Scientists expected that meteoroid impacts on Janus and Epimetheus might kick particles off the moons' surfaces and inject them into Saturn orbit, but they were surprised that a well-defined ring structure exists at this location. Saturn's extensive, diffuse E ring, the outermost ring, had previously been imaged one small section at a time. The 12-hour marathon enabled scientists to see the entire structure in one view. The moon Enceladus is seen sweeping through the E ring, extending wispy, fingerlike projections into the ring. These very likely consist of tiny ice particles being ejected from Enceladus' south polar geysers, and entering the E-ring. "Both the new ring and the unexpected structures in the E ring should provide us with important insights into how moons can both release small particles and sculpt their local environments," said Matt Hedman, a research associate working with team member Joseph Burns, an expert in diffuse rings, at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Earth from nearly 1.5 billion kilometers (930 million miles) away In the latest observations, scientists once again see the bright ghost-like spokes -- transient, dusty, radial structures -- streaking across the middle of Saturn's main rings. Capping off the new batch of observations, Cassini cast its powerful eyes in our direction and captured Earth, a pale blue orb, and a faint suggestion of our moon. Not since NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft saw Earth as a pale blue dot from beyond the orbit of Neptune has Earth been imaged in color from the outer solar system. "Nothing has greater power to alter our perspective of ourselves and our place in the cosmos than these images of Earth we collect from faraway places like Saturn," said Carolyn Porco, Cassini imaging team leader at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. Porco was one of the Voyager imaging scientists involved in taking the Voyager 'Pale Blue Dot' image. "In the end, the ever-widening view of our own little planet against the immensity of space is perhaps the greatest legacy of all our interplanetary travels." Earth is captured here in a natural color portrait made possible by the passing of Saturn directly in front of the sun from Cassini's point of view In the coming weeks, several science teams will analyze data collected by Cassini's other instruments during this rare occultation event. The data will help scientists better understand the relationship between the rings and moons, and will give mission planners a clearer picture of ring hazards to avoid during future ring crossings. Images of the new ring, the E-ring, Enceladus and Earth are available at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org .

[Moogs]

Booya-kasha!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6135450.stm

[Moogs]

Because this thread rules, that's why....

[julesstoop]

Thanks for reminding me

[thegelding]

ok, saturn is frankly freaking me out lately...

first the eye, now we have either the galaxies largest gods-eye or a big red stop sign showing up on the opposite pole

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ca...-20070327.html

g

[curiousuburb]

Holy HexaHurricanes, Batman !

Beaten to the update. Been too busy, but spotted this myself today.

[Schnauzer]

weirdddd :/

[drewprops]

Not to throw a damper on the Alien Olympics, but what are the chances this is a phenomenon associated with Cassini's imaging system?

The Saturn north pole hexagon has not been visible to Cassini's visual cameras, because it's winter in that area, so the hexagon is under the cover of the long polar night, which lasts about 15 years. The infrared mapping spectrometer can image Saturn in both daytime and nighttime conditions and see deep inside. It imaged the feature with thermal wavelengths near 5 microns (seven times the wavelength visible to the human eye) during a 12-day period beginning on Oct. 30, 2006. As winter wanes over the next two years, the feature may become visible to the visual cameras.

[Kickaha]

Naw. It's a REALLY HUGE example of a steadystate polygonal vortex.

http://www.physorg.com/news66924222.html