Voyager 2 imaging of Triton |
Voyager 2 imaging of Triton |
Mar 7 2006, 04:15 PM
Post
#1
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 159 Joined: 4-March 06 Member No.: 694 |
I was just wondering if someone has "super enhanced" the Voyager 2 images of Neptune's largest moon Triton and made them available to the public? I've read about and seen it done on Voyager images of Saturn's moons. Considering there won't be an orbiter going to Neptune being launched for a long time, this could be very worth while idea.
-------------------- I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed.
- Opening line from episode 13 of "Cosmos" |
|
|
Feb 6 2014, 12:15 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Member Group: Members Posts: 796 Joined: 27-February 08 From: Heart of Europe Member No.: 4057 |
Sorry - wasn't clear. I wasn't asking if we could get Voyager level resolution, I already understood that was impossible - I was wondering what telescopes now or in planning for the next 10 years had _Hubble_ comparable resolution for outer-system objects. As Phil already said, some telescopes are already better than HST in infrared. For now best images are from Keck II and Gemini. Keck II is even comparable in absolute terms to HST, if atmospheric conditions are good. Best resolution is then around 0.03 arcsec. This is equivalent to 4 resolution elements across Triton disc or ~650 km at Neptune distance. HST has same resolution in wavelength near UV/visible border. New instrument - GPI on Gemini has similar resolution. In near future (this year?) SPHERE will be available on VLT (ESO) with peak resolution around 0.02 arcsec (6 elements across Triton's disc). Daaah, the Webb not the Watt. Excuse me. A new generation of ground-based Extremely Large Telescopes will come online in the next decade. Both the Thirty Meter Telescope (Hawaii) and the European Extremely Large Telescope (Chile) are currently scheduled for first light in 2022. ... How well they'd image a moon of Neptune is beyond my limited physics, though. Anyone? Doug M. TMT has planned resolution better than 0.01 arcsec with IRIS camera (0.008?). This is better than 200 km at Neptune and ~10-15 resolution elements for Triton disc at best. E-ELT will be even better. It's exoplanetary imager EPICS has planned resolution up to 5 miliarcsec. With this resolution numbers are 110 km and 25 resolution elements for Triton. But those are results for optimal conditions. Ground telescopes are dependent on good atmospheric conditions and powerful systems of adaptive optics. And adaptive optics needs for optimal operation bright point sources of light. Bright stars are best for this but such stars are available only for small areas of sky. Modern telescopes with adaptive optics are equipped with lasers which can produce artificial stars in atmosphere. With this lasers, telescopes are not so limited in their choice of targets on the sky, but results are always worse than in case with bright natural star. This is example how Triton might look from E-ELT EPICS under optimal conditions and how it looks now from HST (FOC camera) (both images are magnified): -------------------- |
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 27th September 2024 - 12:05 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |