New Horizons at Io |
New Horizons at Io |
Feb 24 2007, 07:53 PM
Post
#1
|
||||
Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 3242 Joined: 11-February 04 From: Tucson, AZ Member No.: 23 |
Since the New Horizons Jupiter Encounter thread is already getting pretty long, I decided to create a thread dedicated to New Horizons' observations of the most interesting object in the solar system: Io. Info on upcoming observations comes from the jupiter_timeline_static.xls document john_s posted, and the preview images are from Celestia (note that each image is scaled so that the pixel scale is ~correct, and represents a smaller FOV than LORRI)
Today, February 24, New Horizons conducts three observations of Io with the LORRI camera as well some observations of Io's atmosphere with ALICE. These observations have the lowest phase angle for Io of the entire encounter. Phase angle continues to increase as NH approaches Jupiter and Io. The first observation, ISunMon1, shows Io's sub-Jovian hemisphere (Clat=5.5 S, Clon=340.2 W) from a distance of 7,856,307 km. The resolution with LORRI would be 38.8 km/pixel. Pele is on the limb at lower right and Masubi is on the limb at lower left. Ra Patera is near center. The second observation, ISunMon2, also shows Io's sub-Jovian hemisphere (Clat=5.5 S, Clon=15.1 W) from a distance of 7,575,510 km. The resolution with LORRI would be 37.5 km/pixel. The Tvashtar plume might be poking above the limb at upper left. The third observation, ISunMon3, shows Io's leading hemisphere (Clat=6.0 S, Clon=84.7 W) from a distance of 6,627,459 km. The resolution with LORRI would be 32.8 km/pixel. The Zamama plume might be visible just above center on the left limb. It only gets better from here. Not sure how NH downlink works, but there is a DSN window right after the last Io observation, hopefully at least one frame from each observation will be returned. Maybe they can do the Huffman window right around where Io is... Tomorrow contains four more observations of Io, highlighting Pele and an eclipse. -------------------- &@^^!% Jim! I'm a geologist, not a physicist!
The Gish Bar Times - A Blog all about Jupiter's Moon Io |
|||
|
||||
Mar 1 2007, 11:15 PM
Post
#2
|
||
IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2256 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
Here is a properly shaded version with exaggerated Jupitershine showing at higher resolution what's visible in the NH image. As discussed when the first Io images appeared some changes are visible.
In addition to a texture map I used a crude elevation map where I 'manually' painted in all of Io's major mountains using a table from a paper published in Icarus (or possibly JGR - I'm too lazy to check) several years ago as a guide. In addition to the table I also used various images as a guide. This now seems to have been more successful than I thought although various 'errors' can be spotted. Various mountains and mesas are obvious near the terminator. |
|
|
||
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 31st October 2024 - 10:55 PM |
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. |