[X] My Assistant

[angel1801]

I've been using the solar system simulator of late and I can say that this orbit will be far better for icy moon imaging that the last one.

Dione: C/A at about 564,000km. Excellent view of entire Saturn facing hemisphere with a much improved view of high northern latitudes.

Rhea: C/A at about 470,000km.

Tethys: C/A at 551,000km.

Mimas: C/A at about 315,000km.

[volcanopele]

Looks like a quiet orbit to me. Some high phase Rhea and Tethys, and view of Polydeuces at ~380 m/pixel.

[TritonAntares]

...Polydeuces at ~380 m/pixel

Fine, this one hasn't been imaged close so far.
Actually when and in which distance will CASSINI pass this 13 km small co-orbital moon of Dione?

Bye.

[tallbear]

Fine, this one hasn't been imaged close so far.
Actually when and in which distance will CASSINI pass this 13 km small co-orbital moon of Dione?

Bye.

The closest Polydeuces pass in the Prime Mission is on

2006-142T14:53:09.0 64057 km

the Rings folk ferreted out the close Rock Flybys of the PM and the ISS folk
have been going after opportunities like this as they come up...

the closest approach to Polydeuces after that will come

2007-241T19:40:42.0 127897 km

and there are a few others at around 130,000 km or so in the PM

[volcanopele]

The closest Polydeuces pass in the Prime Mission is on

2006-142T14:53:09.0 64057 km

Actually, the closest Polydeuces pass was on Feb. 17, 2005 at a distance of ~6200 km. Unfortunately, that opporunity was not identified until it was too late to change the plan to the Rev03 Enceladus pass plan (which at the time of Polydeuces C/A included a RADAR observation and an RSS mass deterimination of Enceladus). The pass coming up next week is the closest for which observations of Polydeuces will be taken.

[JRehling]

Actually, the closest Polydeuces pass was on Feb. 17, 2005 at a distance of ~6200 km. Unfortunately, that opporunity was not identified until it was too late to change the plan to the Rev03 Enceladus pass plan (which at the time of Polydeuces C/A included a RADAR observation and an RSS mass deterimination of Enceladus). The pass coming up next week is the closest for which observations of Polydeuces will be taken.

Just to kibbitz, I would have thought that there would be a program that was run simulating the whole primary mission in very small time units, calculating the comprehensive set of distances between Cassini and each moon, and raising a flag when any close approaches took place. Perhaps Polydeuces's ephemeris was too poorly determined for it to get that treatment, or was that seemingly-easy analysis never carried out for the big moons, either? Hard to imagine.