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Rev 130 - Apr 17-May 8, 2010 - Enceladus E9, And distant Tethys
ngunn
post Apr 17 2010, 07:31 PM
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Rev 130:
http://www.ciclops.org/view/6340/Rev130
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ngunn
post Apr 22 2010, 09:04 PM
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Nice:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...9/N00153315.jpg
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djellison
post Apr 22 2010, 10:11 PM
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For reference, the word 'nice' was said like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TebUMhJAKSM
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ngunn
post Apr 22 2010, 10:58 PM
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wonderful; great; crazy
nice
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ngunn
post Apr 22 2010, 11:17 PM
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Emily has done a brilliant colour version
http://www.planetary.org/image/titan_dione...ni_20100420.png
but it doesn't show the effct of Dione's light scattered through the twilight atmosphere quite so well as the raw image.
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titanicrivers
post Apr 27 2010, 06:40 AM
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From the Cyclops Rev 130
http://www.ciclops.org/view/6340/Rev130
Looking Ahead description: 'Cassini will fly by the icy moon Enceladus, passing at an altitude of 99 kilometers (62 miles) on April 28 at 00:10 UTC. This is Cassini's 10th targeted encounter with Enceladus. Another encounter is planned for May 18 and three more are planned for the second half of 2010. No images are planned for this flyby.'
Oh well, there's still an awesome simulation of the flyby to be had with the Celestia ver 1.6 program! This is an amazing free program http://www.shatters.net/celestia
that can put you alongside Cassini as it flies by Enceladus. For a nice view select goto Cassini from the navigation menu and from the time menu set the time to 2010 Apr 28:00:10:30 and watch the flyby in real time. Experiment with the mouse and keyboard controls to get interesting viewpoints; a teaser sample is shown below.
Attached File  CassiniEnceladusApr28flyby.wmv ( 232.28K ) Number of downloads: 559
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ngunn
post Apr 27 2010, 06:01 PM
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Another unmissable view:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...9/N00153394.jpg
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elakdawalla
post Apr 27 2010, 06:06 PM
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Man, they are getting better and better at framing spectacular shots.

Ngunn, thanks for being our "feed" to these images! smile.gif


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titanicrivers
post Apr 28 2010, 05:21 AM
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Here's a quick link to the Enceladus E-9 flyby science experiments in progress http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/files/20100428_...-quick-look.pdf
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jasedm
post Apr 29 2010, 07:21 PM
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If ever a confirmation was needed that most of us are primarily image-driven, then the (relative) lack of fanfare for this flyby is testament to that.
Best wishes to those eager for the gravity data following the flyby - I hope that the Doppler tracking went without a hitch, and look forward to any interesting results that may arise.
smile.gif

Jase
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stevesliva
post Apr 29 2010, 10:37 PM
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QUOTE (jasedm @ Apr 29 2010, 03:21 PM) *
I hope that the Doppler tracking went without a hitch, and look forward to any interesting results that may arise.


The Cassini Updates that usually would note if there was a DSN glitch, or a safe mode on the spacecraft do not mention any issues. But it doesn't necessarily proclaim success. I'm assuming this is good news, though. Perhaps the 30 hours hadn't fully elapsed when this was written.

QUOTE
Tuesday, April 27 (DOY 117)

Traveling at 6.5 km/sec, Cassini flew past Enceladus for a targeted flyby today (April 28 GMT). Closest approach occurred at an altitude of 100 kilometers. Spacecraft Operations powered on the backup Sun Sensor Assembly for the flyby.

E9 was a high-priority Radio Science (RSS) gravity experiment to look for mass anomalies associated with the Enceladus plume. The flyby segment began with an RSS observation of a Saturn-solar occultation, both ingress and egress, which was followed by gravity observations that continued as Cassini traveled under the south pole through the plume. These back-to-back observations required almost 30 hours of continuous DSN support provided sequentially by all three complexes. These observations will be used to look for anomalies indicating the presence or absence of mass concentrations at the south polar region of Enceladus, which may in turn provide insight into the source material for the plume.

This Saturn atmospheric occultation was one of only a few in the mission able to probe Saturn's low northern latitudes. Capturing this latitude range is only possible when the rings do not obstruct the radio signal to Earth. This means that the observation must be performed at a time when Earth lies in or fairly close to the plane of the rings.

The gravity measurement was a key test for two different hypotheses about the interior of Enceladus. One theory is that a global ocean exists beneath a thin ice crust. Another argues that there's a diapir -- upward intrusion of a rock mass into overlying rock -- underneath the active south polar terrain that is the source of the moon's plume. After passing Enceladus, RSS continued to monitor the spacecraft trajectory as a baseline for comparison with the flyby results.

The MAPS instruments collected data as the spacecraft passed through the plume, the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument and the other fields and particles instruments investigated the electron environment around Enceladus, and sought to measure local gradients in the magnetic and electric fields, and in electron beams moving towards Enceladus. The Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument searched for evidence of local ionization in the plumes, and measured plasma waves and other interactions of Enceladus with its magnetic environment. RPWS also determined the amount and size of dust particles from vents contributing to the plume. For additional information on this flyby link to:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/enceladus20100428/ and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifea...eature20100426/
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nprev
post Apr 29 2010, 11:43 PM
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It'll be an exercise in delayed gratification in any case (though we'll all be intensely interested in the results!) Best possible near-real-time news would be that Cassini maintained continuous DSN lock throughout the encounter.


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toddbronco2
post Apr 30 2010, 01:34 AM
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From an engineering perspective the flyby seems to have gone nominally. I think I heard that the plume torque was ~1 Nms and NAV showed a Doppler plot that looked continuous throughout the flyby. I haven't heard if RSS got what they wanted
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toddbronco2
post Apr 30 2010, 01:45 AM
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QUOTE (Juramike @ Apr 17 2010, 04:41 PM) *
Edge on view of the rings taken on April 11. RGB composite Gaussian blurred with CL1 CB2 hipass filter overlay:

[attachment=21426:Saturn_r...w_border.jpg]

I love how artistic this shot looks! Ironically though, I believe that this rotation was requested not for aesthetic reasons but to help the reaction wheels.
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titanicrivers
post Apr 30 2010, 06:27 AM
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QUOTE (jasedm @ Apr 29 2010, 01:21 PM) *
If ever a confirmation was needed that most of us are primarily image-driven, then the (relative) lack of fanfare for this flyby is testament to that...
Jase

So true !!!
However there was one nice image of Enceladus taken just before the encounter that's shown in context below: (thanks to the SSS and Celestia).
Attached Image
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