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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Cassini general discussion and science results _ New Pictures....

Posted by: Sunspot Feb 24 2005, 07:59 PM

Lots of new pictures and various news items:

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/

Posted by: DEChengst Feb 24 2005, 09:22 PM

Does someone has some magnifying glasses for me ? Somehow I can't make out Saturn very well in that true color picture.

Posted by: djellison Feb 24 2005, 10:48 PM

It's the one behind the rings. I missed it first time as well

Doug

Posted by: Sunspot Feb 24 2005, 11:47 PM

Imagine the view we'll get later in the mission when Cassini enters into high inclination orbits. From it's nearly polar orbit the view will be breathtaking

From the Planetary Society website

180-Degree Transfer;
Rings and MAPS (Magnetosphere, Atmosphere, and Plasma Science)
July 22, 2006, to June 30, 2007

Having spent the first year of the mission in Saturn's ring plane and most often on the night side of Saturn, mission scientists will be eager for the change in Cassini's orbit that will bring her up out of the ring plane and out onto the day side of Saturn. They'll accomplish this change in orbit with a sneaky maneuver called a "180-degree transfer." Changes in Cassini's orbit are accomplished using Titan flybys. Using repeated Titan gravity assists, mission engineers will slowly change Cassini's elliptical orbit (which causes the spacecraft to have very close approaches, or periapses, to Saturn and very distant apoapses, beyond Titan's orbit) into one that is circular and exactly the same size as Titan's, but tilted to it at a high angle of 60 degrees. This circularization happens on January 29, 2007. Then, one and a half revolutions later, Cassini will meet Titan on the other side of the planet, and repeat the same maneuver in reverse.

During the process, Cassini's high inclination to Saturn's ring plane will give the spacecraft a fantastic view of Saturn's glorous ring system. From our vantage point on Earth, the most "open" Saturn's rings ever appear to us is at an angle of about 27 degrees. At her maximum inclination, Cassini will see the system from a 60-degree angle, from which viewpoint the globe of Saturn will clearly float in the center of its open ring system.

Posted by: Sunspot Feb 26 2005, 03:36 PM

Razor thin rings:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=33578

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=33577

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Feb 27 2005, 02:56 AM

How's THIS for an edge-on view of the rings:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=33328 .

Cassini has just sent a whole series of these to the Raw Images file -- including two which feature Prometheus and Pandora and clearly show the out-of-plane warping of the F Ring:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=33326
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=33330
...and another that shows Atlas: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/raw-images-details.cfm?feiImageID=33327 .