T46 (Nov. 3, 2008 / Rev 91) |
T46 (Nov. 3, 2008 / Rev 91) |
Nov 3 2008, 02:53 AM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
The T46 Titan Flyby Mission Description is now up:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/prod...description.pdf -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Nov 3 2008, 04:09 AM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 202 Joined: 9-September 08 Member No.: 4334 |
The search for lightning is exciting - as you said on the ethane lakes thread, that could mean a lot for organic molecules there.
As for the mapping, how many flybys till we have a full map? I don't really understand the radio studies of the atmosphere, but I'm sure they'll be interesting too. |
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Nov 3 2008, 10:28 AM
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#3
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Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
With the radio occultations you can, in principle, determine really accurate temperature profiles of the atmosphere with high vertical resolution. What you actually measure (if I have it correctly) is the bending angle of the radio waves as they travel from the spacecraft, through the atmosphere, to the Earth's receivers. From this, you can work out atmospheric density and from this, if you know what the composition of the atmosphere is, you can get temperature. Problems are you apparently need to know the position of the spacecraft really accurately and you need to know the composition of the atmosphere. Also, you get results at only a few points throughout the mission. Good things are that you can probe the troposphere, which is where lots of the interesting weather is happening and you would otherwise not be able to distinguish temperature from e.g. methane abundance. Combination of radio occultation and far-infrared observations can in principle do this.
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Nov 4 2008, 05:50 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
From the mission description:
QUOTE "Bistatic surface scattering will be observed at low southern latitudes on the ingress side (25-30 degrees; ~90-110 degrees west longitude) and low northern latitude (25-30 degrees; ~200-220 degrees west longitude) on the egress side." Bistatic experiments can be used to infer dielectic constant. Dielectric constant tells you how polar the material is: water being very polar with a large dielectric constant, hydrocarbon being non-polar with a low dielectric constant. [-25- -30S, 90-110W] is just a tad to the NW of Hotei Arcus, Xanadu. If this is a cryo-caldera (like Yellowstone or Craters of the Moon) with expesed cryobasalt, you'd expect a lot of exposed high-dielectric constant ice. [25-30N. 200-220 W] is in the Dilmun peninsula just a tad WNW of the Dancing Monkey (or Flying Spaghetti Monster) feature. Depending on the resolution, you might see if the dark pattern forming the Dancing Monkey are composed of low dielectric constant dune sands or higher dielectric constant exposed water ice. (I favor an even lower dielectric constant organic tar fill. I think this might be Deep Black unit deep in the cracks.) -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Nov 5 2008, 04:43 AM
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#5
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
New images are up!
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...iImageID=173052 Swirly patterns down in the smoke... (Another caudal-like shape down there?) -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Nov 5 2008, 11:51 AM
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#6
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Is this Hotei Arcus? It will be interesting to look for any topographic shading at the terminator. Can't wait to see the processed mosaics.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...iImageID=173100 |
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Nov 7 2008, 01:16 PM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Rev 92 Looking Ahead description mentions a two frame ISS mosaic
Might be a good view of Kraken Mare at sunrise. -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Nov 10 2008, 10:21 AM
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#8
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Might be a good view of Kraken Mare at sunrise. Well it's visible: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...5/N00123311.jpg If I'm reading it right the 'toe of Italy' seems less distinct than the bay to the left of it in this view. I'll be interested to learn how these images look to the experts who are seeing the professional versions. |
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Dec 19 2008, 08:00 AM
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#9
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Partial higher-res T46 mosaic of Hotei Arcus, on top of T47 basemap mosaic with T13 and T41 RADAR sections AND VIMS T20.
All artfully animated with fade effects.... (click to animate) Boy, there's a lot of cool stuff going on in here. I've almost got an overlap of T13 RADAR vs. ISS. So close.... The VIMS T20 yellow blob at the bottom of the VIMS section appears to correlate with the ISS medium bright section just NE of "The Pinecone" (at center left). The VIMS and RADAR arc also almost line up with the ISS arc. -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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