[X] My Assistant

[jsheff]

The January PSG meeting is now in progress and the tour for extended mission is scheduled to be chosen on Thursday (Feb 1). There are 13 tours being considered OF4a, PF-3, PF-4, PF-6, PF-6h9, PF-7, PF-8, PF-9, PF-10, PF-11, PF-12 & PF-13 --plus 'tweaks' on these tours e.g. there is a PF-8a, PF-9a

S-S-So ... has anybody heard anything?

- John Sheff
Cambridge, MA

[john_s]

The winner is (drum roll please) PF6h9. Officially adopted on Thursday. I haven't sifted through all the details yet, but from my parochial point of view, I know it includes seven close Enceladus flybys, so that's good. Most of the science groups (Titan, Rings, Magnetosphere, Saturn, and Icy Satellites) were pretty happy with this choice- it packs in an amazing number of science opportunities.

John.

[tasp]

Additionally, craters on the slopes (should there be any) will modify the local slope angles, and the subsequent darkening will be modified accordingly. As in the upper latitiudes of Iapetus, I suspect this trait of the darkening will be more pronounced in the lighter (higher elevation) areas.

We might see a concensus form that the dust from Phoebe idea just doesn't explain Cassini Regio . . .

[JRehling]

Additionally, craters on the slopes (should there be any) will modify the local slope angles, and the subsequent darkening will be modified accordingly. As in the upper latitiudes of Iapetus, I suspect this trait of the darkening will be more pronounced in the lighter (higher elevation) areas.

We might see a concensus form that the dust from Phoebe idea just doesn't explain Cassini Regio . . .

I'll go out on a limb and opine that the dark stuff will not appear at all on the white peaks, and the stratigraphy will reveal that the darkening ended before the creation of the peaks (ergo, a very long time ago).

[Rob Pinnegar]

I'll go out on a limb and opine that the dark stuff will not appear at all on the white peaks, and the stratigraphy will reveal that the darkening ended before the creation of the peaks (ergo, a very long time ago).

That would be a wild result if it turned out to be true. It would be very difficult to explain the lack of bright craters in Cassini Regio if the dark material were that old.

[JRehling]

That would be a wild result if it turned out to be true. It would be very difficult to explain the lack of bright craters in Cassini Regio if the dark material were that old.

True. Pretty much destroys my assertion, in fact.

There are small craters with bright rims but dark floors that show us that the dark stuff was emplaced after those craters were formed, and this pretty much tells us that the dark stuff happened in the last fraction of Iapetus's history. I should have reviewed this before posting.