Rev 227, Nov 30th - Dec 13th |
Rev 227, Nov 30th - Dec 13th |
Nov 26 2015, 07:28 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Details for this revolution are available here
This is the orbit I've been looking forward to for some time as it affords us a closer glimpse at Atlas, Prometheus and Epimetheus. In fact, Cassini approaches the latter two at a closer range than it will for the remainder of the mission, and observations are planned for both, as well as Atlas. This, despite having to turn the spacecraft and use the high-gain antenna as a shield during ring-plane crossing to avoid any possible collisions with debris in the ring-plane. This must have been an extra-specially complicated sequence of observations to plan, as it all happens at or around periapse. I'm really looking forward to another view of Atlas particularly - can't wait!!! Jase |
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Dec 7 2015, 08:15 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 306 Joined: 4-October 14 Member No.: 7273 |
Here's an RGB composite of astrometric observations of Mimas, Enceladus, and Tethys from December 3.
Moon Trio - Rev 227 by Justin Cowart, on Flickr |
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Dec 7 2015, 08:36 PM
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#3
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Member Group: Members Posts: 568 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Silesia Member No.: 299 |
Flying saucer ?
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...2/N00251477.jpg Is it just the play of light and shadow, or really Atlas is extremely flat ? -------------------- Free software for planetary science (including Cassini Image Viewer).
http://members.tripod.com/petermasek/marinerall.html |
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Dec 7 2015, 08:39 PM
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#4
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Very nice Justin, thanks for that!
Cassini-Huygens has to be in the top five UMSF missions ever in terms of scientific return, ingenuity, and sheer beauty. |
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Dec 7 2015, 09:16 PM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Flying saucer ? http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...2/N00251477.jpg Is it just the play of light and shadow, or really Atlas is extremely flat ? I think Atlas really is that shape- a kernel of fairly solid spherical material with accretions of candy-floss icy-stuff around the equator. |
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Dec 7 2015, 09:21 PM
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#6
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
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Dec 7 2015, 09:32 PM
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#7
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
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Dec 7 2015, 09:48 PM
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#8
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
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Dec 7 2015, 10:08 PM
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#9
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Feel so privileged to have this ringside seat - sat on my backside at home, not having contributed anything meaningful to this mission yet able to access in almost real-time these stunning images from half-way across the solar-system.
Fantastic! Jase |
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Dec 7 2015, 11:38 PM
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#10
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2086 Joined: 13-February 10 From: Ontario Member No.: 5221 |
Gosh, and I thought that Methone was bizarre. Even though it should not be a surprise that orbiting in such a dusty environment blankets a satellite in dust, but to such an extent and depth...
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Dec 8 2015, 01:03 AM
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#11
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Member Group: Members Posts: 306 Joined: 4-October 14 Member No.: 7273 |
Flying saucer ? http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...2/N00251477.jpg Is it just the play of light and shadow, or really Atlas is extremely flat ? It's a combination of both. Atlas has a small, roughly spheroidal body at the center, but it's accumulated a thick pancake of ring material along its equator extending out to around the moon's Roche limit. It reaches out far enough that it's blocking light from falling on the moon's southern hemisphere since it's getting close to the southern winter solstice. A couple pictures of Epimetheus, IIRC these will be the best of the mission. It's suprisingly Phobos-like - smooth, old terrain peppered by a lot of smaller fresh craters. It's even got a few grooves here and there! It's also interesting to see some of the darker patches in the bottom of craters on the left side. Sort of looks like layering, although other image sets of the moon make it look more like loose dust that's moved around the moon. And one of Prometheus around closest approach. I'm not sure if it's just a lighting effect, but it looks like many of the craters are surrounded by dark rings. |
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Dec 8 2015, 11:34 AM
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#12
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 29 Joined: 11-May 09 Member No.: 4772 |
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Dec 8 2015, 12:17 PM
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#13
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Senior Member Group: Admin Posts: 3108 Joined: 21-December 05 From: Canberra, Australia Member No.: 615 |
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Dec 8 2015, 05:23 PM
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#14
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Member Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 22-November 14 From: Bormida (SV) - Italy Member No.: 7348 |
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Dec 8 2015, 08:08 PM
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#15
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Very nice renderings everyone!
Incidentally, it looks as though the pointing for the Atlas sequence was fractionally off as it falls right on the edge of the FoV in the images. Understandable though as its orbit is somewhat unpredictable. From Wikipedia: "Atlas is significantly perturbed by Prometheus and to a lesser degree by Pandora, leading to excursions in longitude of up to 600 km (~0.25°) away from the precessing Keplerian orbit with a rough period of about 3 years. Since the orbits of Prometheus and Pandora are chaotic, it is suspected that Atlas's may be as well.[1]" Doubtless Aegaeon's imaging sequence on the next orbit has been designed to take account of that moon's orbital uncertainty. Add to that it's a very close, fairly fast flyby, of a moon that has a low albedo, and is tiny even compared to Atlas... This shows the wisdom of the dozens (hundreds?) of astrometric observations of the small moons the Cassini team has written into the sequences on almost every revolution in recent years, refining their orbits to the finest degree possible. |
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Dec 8 2015, 08:28 PM
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#16
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3233 Joined: 11-February 04 From: Tucson, AZ Member No.: 23 |
Doubtless Aegaeon's imaging sequence on the next orbit has been designed to take account of that moon's orbital uncertainty. Add to that it's a very close, fairly fast flyby, of a moon that has a low albedo, and is tiny even compared to Atlas... Yep, the observation is basically a series of two-frame mosaics. Should help to ensure that Aegaeon is in the FOV. -------------------- &@^^!% Jim! I'm a geologist, not a physicist!
The Gish Bar Times - A Blog all about Jupiter's Moon Io |
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Dec 9 2015, 10:20 PM
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#17
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Solar System Cartographer Group: Members Posts: 10167 Joined: 5-April 05 From: Canada Member No.: 227 |
-------------------- ... because the Solar System ain't gonna map itself.
Also to be found posting similar content on https://mastodon.social/@PhilStooke Maps for download (free PD: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...Cartography.pdf NOTE: everything created by me which I post on UMSF is considered to be in the public domain (NOT CC, public domain) |
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Dec 10 2015, 12:30 PM
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#18
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Lord Of The Uranian Rings Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437 |
I've added artificial color to the WAC clear-filtered frame of Epimetheus, approximating the view a human might have from the same vantage point.
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Dec 10 2015, 09:33 PM
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#19
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Has anybody else tried their hand at the Atlas images? Here are my quick-and-dirty versions, but I know others can do better.
-------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Dec 11 2015, 03:20 AM
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#20
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Lord Of The Uranian Rings Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437 |
Eli's had a crack at Atlas already, Emily:
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=228437 This is my attempt at the Prometheus obs with a semi-automated method of removing the digital smuts: -------------------- |
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Dec 11 2015, 04:15 AM
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#21
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Lord Of The Uranian Rings Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437 |
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Dec 11 2015, 10:36 AM
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#22
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Up late working on that one Ian!
Very nice. |
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Dec 12 2015, 06:41 AM
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#23
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Lord Of The Uranian Rings Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437 |
Thanks Jase! Yeah, I work best after the Moon rises it seems ....
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Mar 14 2017, 06:04 PM
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#24
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Lord Of The Uranian Rings Group: Members Posts: 798 Joined: 18-July 05 From: Plymouth, UK Member No.: 437 |
Looking at the PDS data for this medium-range flyby of Atlas, I realized a number of frames at the start of the sequence were taken against the backdrop of Saturn's night-side. Thanks to the faint illumination of the cloud decks with ring-shine, an extreme contrast stretch of the images reveals the moon's equatorial bulge and southern hemisphere in profile.
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Mar 14 2017, 06:42 PM
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#25
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Member Group: Members Posts: 923 Joined: 10-November 15 Member No.: 7837 |
Great catch!
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Mar 14 2017, 09:15 PM
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#26
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Member Group: Members Posts: 655 Joined: 22-January 06 Member No.: 655 |
Nice work!
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Guest_Steve5304_* |
Mar 14 2017, 09:45 PM
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#27
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Guests |
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