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Unmanned Spaceflight.com _ Cassini's ongoing mission and raw images _ Rev 125 - Jan 19-Feb 4, 2010 - Titan T66, Prometheus
Posted by: ugordan Jan 25 2010, 10:05 PM
NAC RGB ring scan of the left ring ansa, unlit side, 2010-01-23:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/14/1431389/ring_scan_rgb_20100123.jpg
Posted by: volcanopele Jan 25 2010, 10:29 PM
Very nice! As if the bright F and C rings and Cassini Division weren't enough of a clue, this observation was taken at high phase over the "unlit" side of the rings. I put unlit in quotes as there is obviously some contribution from Saturn shine as well.
Posted by: tharrison Jan 26 2010, 01:12 AM
Wow, very beautiful!
Posted by: Juramike Jan 26 2010, 01:46 AM
Image from [EDIT: UN]lit side of rings. Movement of a sheparding moon and ringlet chunks can be seen as multicolored splots in the lower right part of the image:
(processing details on flickr)
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-Mike
Posted by: volcanopele Jan 26 2010, 01:54 AM
I think that is still the unlit side I do believe...
Posted by: Juramike Jan 26 2010, 01:59 AM
Gaaah! (Corrected)
Posted by: remcook Jan 26 2010, 08:10 AM
nice 
The moving parts really jump out in such a composite.
Posted by: ugordan Jan 28 2010, 01:15 PM
What the.... ? Does Aegaeon (btw, is it spelled that way or Aegeaon as in Looking Ahead?) really look like a stick or is that motion smear?
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS57/N00150218.jpg
Sure looks like the former case based on all the raw images. Is this a high phase shot?
Posted by: volcanopele Jan 28 2010, 03:38 PM
No it's Aegaeon, I just spelled it wrong... Noticed that last night... 
The phase angle is around 75 deg.
Posted by: ugordan Jan 28 2010, 05:55 PM
At 75 degrees phase angle, did we just discover the most elongated object ever imaged so far?
Posted by: elakdawalla Jan 28 2010, 05:59 PM
Here's an animation that runs through 17 of the 18 Aegaeon NAC shots (skipping the second one, in which I just couldn't find it). Flickering is caused by Cassini using different exposures & different filters. It's enlarged 2x.
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Posted by: Hungry4info Jan 28 2010, 06:05 PM
Wow. I can't think of anything more elongated, but what if this is a saucer shape like Pan or Atlas, being viewed edge-on?
Definitely interesting. Thanks for the animation, Emily.
Posted by: volcanopele Jan 28 2010, 06:09 PM
No. It is elongated as it should be in the sub- to anti-Saturn points, but from this phase it is hard to call it "the most elongated object".
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Posted by: ugordan Jan 28 2010, 06:09 PM
Atlas is definitely thin, but this one appears to outdo it, assuming we didn't by chance get aligned at Aegaeon's equator. Tantalizing. I'd love to see a RGB color composite and compare it to other small rocks, I'd guess this one will turn out to be bluish as well.
Posted by: Phil Stooke Jan 29 2010, 01:01 AM
Best I can do with Aegaeon - images from the start and end of the sequence. Each is a composite of about 6 or 7 frames, omitting the invisible or saturated frames, enlarged to 400%.
Phil
Posted by: Juramike Jan 29 2010, 01:18 AM
Dione. Mosaic of four images. Severely warped, tweaked, cajoled, and finally beaten into submission to account for spacecraft motion:
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(Raw images N00150251 and N00150252, accounting for the 75% of the image on the right, were left unmolested.)
Full resolution here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4312865986/
-Mike
Posted by: Juramike Jan 30 2010, 01:48 AM
Wide angle mosaic of unlit side of rings taken on January 27, 2010.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4315144580/
At full resolution, at least 8 ring spokes can be seen in the B-ring.
Posted by: tedstryk Feb 2 2010, 04:09 AM
Mike - I wasn't impressed, then I clicked "full resolution" - wow!
Posted by: elakdawalla Feb 2 2010, 04:12 AM
I like the fact that you didn't correct the RGB separation of that little moon (must be Prometheus, I guess) near the ansa. Sometimes it's nice to leave that stuff in, and then let people ask why it looks like that -- it gives you an opportunity to explain the way color imaging works.
Agreed, coolness on the number of spokes!
Posted by: stevesliva Feb 12 2010, 07:08 PM
Only three frames for this? What I was just looking at is only the rings and no Saturn.
Along with Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) science observations, the Spacecraft Operations Office performed a reaction wheel bias, the Magnetometer performed a downlink roll calibration, and the flight team had an opportunity for what is called a "Kodak Moment." A Kodak Moment as the name implies is an opportunity for an aesthetically pleasing image to be taken. Mission Planning identifies many such opportunities but only about one per sequence may be implemented, and only if the Navigation team is able to release an Optical Navigation image placeholder, and only if margins and workforce allow. For S57 the team was able to obtain a nice image of Titan, Rhea, the rings, and Saturn to add to the album.
Posted by: volcanopele Feb 12 2010, 07:13 PM
I see the nightside of Saturn illuminated by the rings...
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS57/W00062957.jpg
Posted by: Juramike Feb 13 2010, 01:41 AM
A couple more Prometheus images got posted from the Jan 27th flyby.
Here's an RGB composite of when it's crescent was thinnest.
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Posted by: Juramike Feb 13 2010, 05:20 AM
3 frame animation of RGB images from Cassini's January 27 2010 flyby:
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Full res here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4352313325/
source RGB composite images:
thin crescent: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4351979611/
mid crescent: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4353017468/
widest crescent: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4352280765/
Posted by: Juramike Apr 11 2010, 03:43 AM
A rework of an earlier mosaic that I did for another purpose and thought I'd link to it here.
It is a graphic that annotates and compares the Saturn Ring raw image mosaic of January 27, 2010 to PIA08389 (unlit side of rings mosaic). The Cassini raw image mosaic is enlarged 2x. Kinda cool to see how the brightness of the B-ring seems to vary around the ring - a phase angle backscatter thing?
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The high (and I mean really big - 15,000 x 5,000) mosaic is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4509772726/
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