Question regarding Huygens surface video |
Question regarding Huygens surface video |
Dec 9 2016, 08:29 AM
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#1
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 43 Joined: 14-December 12 Member No.: 6784 |
Recently I found a short animation of several of the images taken of the Titan surface by Huygens after it landed:
Link to animation. I see that several objects appear to move in and out of frame, which I have read is attributed to fluffy aerosols kicked up from the surface settling down again. My question is, what is the explanation for the object which appears to move horizontally from left to right? If it is in fact the same object in all 3 frames from frame 11-13, it appears at (x,y) pixel coordinates (74,290), (119,291), and (212,297). Is it something on the lens, drifting to the side perhaps? Because I do not know how this sequence of images has been combined, and whether or not they are chronological or in reverse order, or whether there are missing intermediate frames, I cannot estimate the time that passes during the movement of this small blob. Finally, is there a table somewhere with timestamps of all the Huygens triplets? Regards, Nick |
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Dec 13 2016, 06:16 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 656 Joined: 20-April 05 From: League City, Texas Member No.: 285 |
I would have expected little change in the jpeg images over time, including the compression artifacts -- but clearly there is noise in the ccd detector, variation in illumination over time, and of course the interaction of the lander with the environment.
A sufficiently motivated person could take the known jpeg compression algorithm, ccd characteristics, optical system characteristics, etceteras, and create a detailed simulation of the surface imaging sequence, and conceivably over many iterations essentially reverse-impute the surface characteristics which produced the observed imagery and the associated variations over time. This would be a VERY complex procedure, and could easily be the basis of a Ph.D dissertation, perhaps jointly between a spacecraft engineer and a planetary scientist. At the very least, inverting the jpeg compression algorithm -- considering it was compressing the same scene repeatedly over time -- may provide some insights. It would be very cool to see the product of such a study, but I am skeptical that it would add much to our existing knowledge. |
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