Inclination |
Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Outer Solar System > Saturn > Cassini Huygens > Cassini general discussion and science results  |
Inclination |
 Feb 8 2006, 05:01 PM
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 Senior Member  Group: Members Posts: 1061 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Columbus OH USA Member No.: 13  |
Seems like a while since any pretty images of the rings have come along, because Cassini has been squarely in the ring plane for so long. This situation is to continue until July when the orbital inclination will begin increasing rapidly:
 That chart is based on information predicted by the SPICE kernels. Zooming in on July shows the first step in this maneuver:  It begins at about midnight July 22. Sure enough, that's when Cassini flies over the north pole of Titan, using the gravity assist to send it southward out of the ring plane:  Shortly thereafter, Cassini will begin returning perspectives like this:  A long dry spell for rings fans! -------------------- |
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Feb 8 2006, 05:05 PM
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#2
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3115 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Well, we knew that this inclination change was coming. I'm looking forward to it -- the views of the rings ought to be just spectacular!
-the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Feb 8 2006, 05:53 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
QUOTE (jmknapp @ Feb 8 2006, 12:01 PM) It begins at about midnight July 22. Sure enough, that's when Cassini flies over the north pole of Titan, using the gravity assist to send it southward out of the ring plane:  What are those five little dots in the darkness of Titan's north pole? -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Feb 8 2006, 05:56 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1061 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Columbus OH USA Member No.: 13 |
QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Feb 8 2006, 01:53 PM) What are those five little dots in the darkness of Titan's north pole? Thery're the predicted locations of the five radar beams at that moment. -------------------- |
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Feb 8 2006, 06:13 PM
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#5
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 Member Group: Members Posts: 879 Joined: 30-January 05 Member No.: 162 |
QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Feb 8 2006, 11:53 AM) What are those five little dots in the darkness of Titan's north pole? My secret base. You must have your memory erased now. Please log on to amnesiabrainwipe.com for your treatment. 
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Feb 8 2006, 07:06 PM
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 Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2818 Joined: 11-February 04 From: Tucson, AZ Member No.: 23 |
It gets even better (if you like the rings, worse if you prefer to look at the satellites) by the end of the mission we end up near 67 deg. in inclination (or was it 76 deg.; dyslexia moment...)
-------------------- &@^^!% Jim! I'm a geologist, not a physicist!
The Gish Bar Times - A Blog all about Jupiter's Moon Io |
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Feb 8 2006, 07:10 PM
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#7
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2454 Joined: 8-July 05 From: NGC 5907 Member No.: 430 |
QUOTE (jmknapp @ Feb 8 2006, 12:56 PM) Thery're the predicted locations of the five radar beams at that moment. Interesting. What are they looking for and why so narrow? -------------------- "After having some business dealings with men, I am occasionally chagrined,
and feel as if I had done some wrong, and it is hard to forget the ugly circumstance. I see that such intercourse long continued would make one thoroughly prosaic, hard, and coarse. But the longest intercourse with Nature, though in her rudest moods, does not thus harden and make coarse. A hard, sensible man whom we liken to a rock is indeed much harder than a rock. From hard, coarse, insensible men with whom I have no sympathy, I go to commune with the rocks, whose hearts are comparatively soft." - Henry David Thoreau, November 15, 1853 |
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Feb 8 2006, 07:15 PM
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#8
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 Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3534 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
QUOTE (ljk4-1 @ Feb 8 2006, 08:10 PM) What are they looking for and why so narrow? They aren't looking for anything in particular. It's part of mapping Titan's surface by synthetic aperture radar. Those are I believe only centers of the 5 beams, not the entire radar footprint. -------------------- |
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Feb 8 2006, 07:46 PM
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#9
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1061 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Columbus OH USA Member No.: 13 |
QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 8 2006, 03:15 PM) They aren't looking for anything in particular. It's part of mapping Titan's surface by synthetic aperture radar. Those are I believe only centers of the 5 beams, not the entire radar footprint. Plus they're looking up there primarily because the orbit change dictates that they fly over the pole. The footprint at that range wouldn't be much bigger than the area spanned by the five beam centers though. dvandorn: "the views of the rings ought to be just spectacular!" Here's another view Cassini will be getting in Feb. 2007: thumbnail:  The full size version shows a couple of the shepherd-type moons will be in the frame. The wide-angle camera isn't wide enough to show the whole system... pity. I guess that's where mosaics come in. -------------------- |
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| Guest_PhilCo126_* |
 Feb 9 2006, 07:21 AM
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Guests |
Amazing viewing angles ... Looking forward to that
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Feb 9 2006, 05:32 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1061 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Columbus OH USA Member No.: 13 |
QUOTE (PhilCo126 @ Feb 9 2006, 03:21 AM) Amazing viewing angles ... Looking forward to that This view will be great (click for larger version):  Here's a web page with a number of different predicted views for July2006-June2007: Ring views -------------------- |
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