Janus/epimetheus Orbital "swap" - Unmanned Spaceflight.com

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Janus/epimetheus Orbital "swap", Planned observations?

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JTN View Member Profile	Dec 24 2005, 01:56 AM Post #1
Member Group: Members Posts: 204 Joined: 20-November 05 From: Mare Desiderii Member No.: 563	A while back I gave myself the impression (by playing with JPL Horizons) that the next instance of the famous orbital "swap" was going to take place around Jan/Feb 2006. Is that right? I'm not familiar with the precise orbital dynamics[], but I got the impression that the moons would become close, but not spectacularly so. (But I don't have the data in front of me now.) Does anyone know what sort of Cassini observations are planned (indeed, what if any interesting observations can be made, other than ultra-precise trajectory determination)? Any eye candy? [] I had a quick Google, but couldn't find any good animation to help visualise what really happens, with a rotating frame or something - just this, which I'm not convinced by. Anyone know of anything better?)

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canis_minor

Feb 6 2006, 09:53 PM

Post #2

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Here's a nice long-term plot of the semimajor axes (which is sort of like the average orbital distance from Saturn for the uninitiated) of Janus and Epimetheus for about 25 years.

Posts in this topic

JTN Janus/epimetheus Orbital "swap" Dec 24 2005, 01:56 AM

elakdawalla QUOTE (JTN @ Dec 23 2005, 05:56 PM)[*] I had ... Dec 24 2005, 05:45 PM

JTN I had another go at Horizons. Attached are some ro... Dec 24 2005, 08:35 PM

pat Current best guess is a closest approach of ~10,30... Dec 24 2005, 10:41 PM

JTN QUOTE (pat @ Dec 24 2005, 10:41 PM)Current be... Dec 24 2005, 11:35 PM

nprev QUOTE (JTN @ Dec 24 2005, 04:35 PM)Thanks... Dec 26 2005, 12:56 AM

JTN QUOTE (nprev @ Dec 26 2005, 12:56 AM)Too bad;... Dec 26 2005, 12:33 PM

nprev QUOTE (JTN @ Dec 26 2005, 05:33 AM)I don... Dec 26 2005, 06:55 PM

pat QUOTE (nprev @ Dec 26 2005, 01:56 AM)Too bad;... Dec 26 2005, 06:59 PM

nprev Hmm. Thanks, Pat and JTN. So, just how often do t... Dec 24 2005, 10:59 PM

BruceMoomaw Yeah, it was announced the moment they were discov... Dec 26 2005, 10:49 PM

nprev Thank you very much, Bruce; that was most interest... Dec 27 2005, 12:09 AM

BruceMoomaw I've never heard of any study suggesting that ... Dec 27 2005, 08:46 AM

ustrax Can someone tell me what was going on here?... ht... Dec 27 2005, 11:06 AM

ugordan That's one of what the spacecraft team calls ... Dec 27 2005, 11:47 AM

ustrax QUOTE (ugordan @ Dec 27 2005, 11:47 AM)That... Dec 27 2005, 11:57 AM

pat It occurred to me that I should probably mention t... Dec 27 2005, 08:16 PM

Tman According Tilmann Denk, currently in Boulder (CO) ... Jan 20 2006, 12:09 PM

elakdawalla I'm trying to write a description of this for ... Jan 20 2006, 10:16 PM

pat QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Jan 20 2006, 11:16 PM)I... Jan 21 2006, 12:12 AM

elakdawalla QUOTE (pat @ Jan 20 2006, 04:12 PM)You might ... Jan 21 2006, 01:47 AM

gpurcell QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Jan 21 2006, 01:47 AM)Th... Jan 22 2006, 04:40 AM

BrianJ Hello - my first post on UMSF ! Just wondered... Jan 22 2006, 12:53 PM

scalbers Thanks to Emily's discussion I think I'm b... Jan 21 2006, 05:46 PM

canis_minor Here's a nice long-term plot of the semimajor ... Feb 6 2006, 09:53 PM

Tman Thanks for the plot! Do you know who it made... Feb 8 2006, 09:58 AM

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