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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Titan _ An Infrared Movie & Map Of Titan

Posted by: SigurRosFan Feb 10 2006, 05:14 PM

Very interesting ...

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02145 - Mapping Titan's Changes

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02147 - An Infrared Map of Titan

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA02146 - An Infrared Movie of Titan

Posted by: ugordan Feb 10 2006, 10:52 PM

Check out the VIMS instrument's http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. A hilarious thing strikes me in the second paragraph:

QUOTE

The Cassini space shuttle was launched October 15, 1997. Since then, it has traveled more than 20 billion miles across the Solar System, capturing images of Venus, Jupiter, and the Earth's moon.

You'd think that, by now, they'd know just what kind of spacecraft their camera is mounted on and how many miles it had actually travelled...

One of those OMFG moments...

Posted by: Jeff7 Feb 11 2006, 12:54 AM

QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 10 2006, 05:52 PM)

Check out the VIMS instrument's http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. A hilarious thing strikes me in the second paragraph:

"The Cassini space shuttle was launched October 15, 1997. Since then, it has traveled more than 20 billion miles across the Solar System, capturing images of Venus, Jupiter, and the Earth's moon."

You'd think that, by now, they'd know just what kind of spacecraft their camera is mounted on and how many miles it had actually travelled...

One of those OMFG moments...

Well, I guess in a manner of speaking, it is a space shuttle. It's travelling into space, shuttling a bundle of instruments to Saturn. And heck, it even had a payload that it was able to successfully deliver.

But damn, 20 billion miles? Did it wave to the Voyagers as it passed by?

Posted by: AlexBlackwell Feb 11 2006, 01:55 AM

QUOTE (Jeff7 @ Feb 11 2006, 12:54 AM)

But damn, 20 billion miles? Did it wave to the Voyagers as it passed by?

How many billions of miles long was the VVEJGA trajectory?

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Feb 11 2006, 02:16 AM

It couldn't be THAT long. I suspect they meant to say "2 billion miles".

Now let us pause and consider how much it would have cost if it HAD been a manned mission...

Posted by: AlexBlackwell Feb 11 2006, 02:19 AM

QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Feb 11 2006, 02:16 AM)

Now let us pause and consider how much it would have cost if it HAD been a manned mission...

I have to say that I'm an amateur (or at least more subtle) when it comes to hijacking a thread. Your method above is both brutal and direct

Posted by: BruceMoomaw Feb 11 2006, 05:34 AM

Well, shucks, Alex, THEY were the ones who called it a "space shuttle".

Posted by: Jeff7 Feb 11 2006, 07:42 AM

QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Feb 10 2006, 08:55 PM)

How many billions of miles long was the VVEJGA trajectory?

That trajectory was 3.2 billion miles.

Posted by: Olvegg Feb 11 2006, 09:01 PM

Judging by December mosaic, VIMS has taken two hi-res images north and north-east of Hotei Arcus. Wonder if they'll be released.

Posted by: Decepticon Feb 11 2006, 10:05 PM

It does get aggravating when it comes to releasing already processed images.

Should come soon enough.

I'm still awaiting the next Titan map.

Posted by: belleraphon1 Feb 13 2006, 01:36 PM

All....

regarding the VIMS web page faux pau. Makes one wonder who they hire to update their web pages....

but getting serious....... and not sure if this comment belongs on a different thread....

Tui Regio and Hotei Arcus are certainly extremely interesting features.....

I notice on http://cassinicam.com/titanflybys/titan_199702664.jpg that T13 coming up in April has a radar swath across Xanadu. http://cassinicam.com/titanflybys/titantracks.html It seems to be targeted just north of both these features...... any chance that CASSINI could be pointed to lower this swath and cover both these odd ISS and VIMS features? Or would this change end up lowering the resolution due to the geometry?

Craig