Equatorial phase two, Anticipating 2015 icy moon encounters |
Equatorial phase two, Anticipating 2015 icy moon encounters |
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Cassini is soon to commence equatorial phase 2 of the XXM, following a nudge by Titan on March 16th, with consequent opportunities for further close encounters with Saturn's icy moons and 'rock-moons'
The 'looking-ahead' article for the next orbit has just been published - link here Cassini will be taking a couple of mosaics of Rhea at half-phase on February 10th as a foretaste of what's to come. The article states that this is "the first of 20 targeted and non-targeted flyby of icy satellites (moons other than Titan) this year where ISS [the optical telescopes] will be acquiring images, and the only one of Rhea" This leaves a further 19 close encounters where images will be taken at or around closest approach to various of the remaining moons, and I wondered which ones would be given priority..... Using that other excellent resource, Emily L's 'tour of the Saturn system' blog article yields a number of possibilities for those remaining imaging encounters. The following are targeted encounters and will definitely involve imaging although not necessarily at closest approach: Dione June 16th - altitude 516km Dione August 17th - altitude 474km Enceladus October 14th - altitude 1839km Enceladus October 28th - altitude 49km (closest remaining flyby) Enceladus December 19th altitude 4999km That leaves 14 non-targeted (i.e. fortuitous) encounters for 2015 and there are a host of tempting targets: N.A.C. = Narrow angle camera F.O.V. = field of view Tethys April 11th 52867km Telesto May 9th 46451km (86 NAC pixels across disc at c/a) Polydeuces May 10th 34028km (17 NAC pixels across) closest remaining encounter of the mission Hyperion May 31st 34287 (closest remaining encounter in the mission, Hyperion will be larger than the NAC F.O.V at c/a) Telesto June 16th 44150km (91 NAC pixels across) Polydeuces June 16th 34757km (17 NAC pixels across) Telesto July 5th 14165km (282 pixels) Dione July 27th 60520km Tethys August 17th 41892km Enceladus August 18th 53165km Dione September 8th 41945km Dione September 30th 40820km Calypso September 30th 40820km - closest remaining encounter Mimas September 30th 64791km Telesto October 28th 59688km (89 pixels) Tethys November 11th 8356km closest remaining encounter Tethys November 23rd 17519km Epimetheus December 6th 2616km (fills the NAC F.O.V.) closest remaining encounter Atlas December 6th 20857 (256 pixels ) 2nd closest remaining encounter Prometheus December 6th (714 pixels ) closest remaining encounter Aegaeon December 19th 2556km (33 pixels ) closest remaining encounter I can't find any information regarding Anthe but it's so small, it seems unlikely any useful images will be attainable for this little moon. I think Hyperion is perhaps a certainty, and the two close Tethys passes also. Anybody have any preferences? Mine are Aegaeon (likely I think considering the range) Atlas, Polydeuces and Epimetheus. |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 5th June 2024 - 05:52 AM |
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