[X] My Assistant

[YesRushGen]

Here we are only 5 days from the Titan-b flyby!

So far, I haven't seen any announcements of NASA-TV coverage. Also, there does not appear to be a detailed summary of spacecraft activities for Titan-b. (As there was with Titan-a)

Anyone know what gives?

Kelly

[volcanopele]

Here we are only 5 days from the Titan-b flyby!

So far, I haven't seen any announcements of NASA-TV coverage. Also, there does not appear to be a detailed summary of spacecraft activities for Titan-b. (As there was with Titan-a)

Anyone know what gives?

Kelly

There is a document just like the one from Ta for Tb and hopefully it will get released Monday or this weekend. I've been working on a release for this weekend today.

[remcook]

will we get ISS images of the other hemisphere of Titan, so we have a full coverage?

[YesRushGen]

Since this is another "energy removing" flyby, the flyby geometry will probably be very similar. Maybe enough difference to get a *little* farther East/West/North/South, but I bet on the whole we're flying over the same hemisphere.

Glad to hear that something of T-b will be released! But, is there still no intended live coverage of the event on NASA-TV?

[volcanopele]

Since this is another "energy removing" flyby, the flyby geometry will probably be very similar. Maybe enough difference to get a *little* farther East/West/North/South, but I bet on the whole we're flying over the same hemisphere.

Glad to hear that something of T-b will be released! But, is there still no intended live coverage of the event on NASA-TV?

Tb is essentially a replay of Ta, except UVIS is driving at C/A instead of RADAR and INMS. We have complimentary coverage over the same hemisphere of Titan. the Sub-saturnian hemisphere will be imaged in T4 in late March.

The lack of NASA TV coverage is because not nearly as many team members will be in Pasadena for Tb as in Ta.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

There is a document just like the one from Ta for Tb and hopefully it will get released Monday or this weekend.  I've been working on a release for this weekend today.

Are you planning on releasing similar documents for the Icy satellite flybys?

[volcanopele]

Are you planning on releasing similar documents for the Icy satellite flybys?

I don't know. I don't see why not. The Tb document mentions the Dione non-targeted encounter but doesn't go indepth on what observations are planned (and there are observations planned).

[YesRushGen]

...The lack of NASA TV coverage is because not nearly as many team members will be in Pasadena for Tb as in Ta.

Ah... Too bad! It was really exciting to watch NASA-TV during the coverage. I love watching everyone's reaction... (Oh yeah, and the pictures as they come down! hehe)

Will there at least be a post-flyby science briefing broadcast on NASA-TV?

[volcanopele]

...The lack of NASA TV coverage is because not nearly as many team members will be in Pasadena for Tb as in Ta.

Ah... Too bad! It was really exciting to watch NASA-TV during the coverage. I love watching everyone's reaction... (Oh yeah, and the pictures as they come down! hehe)

Will there at least be a post-flyby science briefing broadcast on NASA-TV?

There is a press conference planned for next Thursday at the AGU Fall conference to present the results fo the Titan and Dione flybys. Not sure if NASA TV will cover it though, sorry.

[pioneer]

The Cassini home page said the closest approach will be 1,200 km. I thought it was 2000-something km.

I get the feeling not as much science will be done this time as the during the Titan-A flyby.

[volcanopele]

The Cassini home page said the closest approach will be 1,200 km. I thought it was 2000-something km.

I get the feeling not as much science will be done this time as the during the Titan-A flyby.

There is just as much science, just different type. Our images should be of higher quality since they have a better signal to noise. UVIS is taking a coouple of star occulation measurements.

The change in altitude is related to the increase in the Iapetus encounter distance to account for the prior uncertainty in Iapetus' mass.

[Mongo]

The Cassini home website has the Titan-b mission description up:

http://saturn1.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/pro...yby20041206.pdf

Bill

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

LOTS of Titan RAW images just posted......

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/index.cfm

This image shows a white streak, which gradually appears to fade.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=27946

Possibly a cloud?

[alan]

I hope they label the spot they used the SAR on last time. They aren't using it this time.

[volcanopele]

I hope they label the spot they used the SAR on last time. They aren't using it this time.

The sar from last time is to far to the north to be see on this encounter, even in the global views.

[OWW]

This is weird. Nearly all the Titan images in the latest batch lost the lower portion... Something wrong with the camera/filter wheel?

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=28201

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Maybe data drop out? Although its mostly the CB3 filtered images.. Odd

[volcanopele]

Not sure either. All the images that are NOT truncated used LUT compression, the ones are truncated did not. I think we are in the process of figuring out what happened. Luckily, the south pole is continuing its nice, sunny day so it looks like we didn't miss much.

[OWW]

If it's not a ground issue I assume it's too late to correct it on board Cassini in time for the closest approach?

[volcanopele]

most likely yes. The bits per pixel estimation for this observation was likely underestimated, so when the images went over their alottment, the SSR stoped saving the image image, causing the truncation. The LUT compressed images don't have this problem.

[volcanopele]

The bits/pixel estimate for the highest resolution images should be a bit better since we used the same ones last encounter (IIRC) so those should be better. However, we won't be able to recover the rest of the images we have on the ground now.

[alan]

New images of Titan posted
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/view_event.php?id=7

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Haze Layers:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=28310

[alan]

From near closest approach
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=28684
Not much to see, going to take a lot if image processing.

[alan]

This one looks much better, and familiar, maybe someone with sharp eyes will spot something that changed between them.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=28631

[djellison]

Fudged together from something almost red-green-blueish

Doug

[djellison]

Fudged from green, blue and UV

[alan]

The the flyby discription lists an atmospreic occultion near closest approch. Those haze layers should give some interesting results.

[alan]

I see many raw images from closest approach and from 250,000 kilometers and farther. I like the medium resoltion shots better, they seem to show more than the high resoltion, must be the angle with the sun. Of course since their the ones I want they are the last ones posted

[mike]

Aye, it's hard to get a handle on what I'm looking at exactly on the closest pictures of Titan.. but I suppose that's Titan for ya.

[alan]

A close-up of mid latitude clouds
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06157
they are also being observed from earth
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/ne...n.html?16122004

[remcook]

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-rele...041216-pr-a.cfm
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi....jpg&type=image

something for the eye

[OWW]

Look at this image: http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06159. The caption states:
"Among the new features seen in this mosaic is a strangely shaped bright feature near the center of the image".

I am not exactly sure which bright feature they mean, but I think it's the one I attached below. This is pretty exciting. It looks like there are teardrop shaped 'crater islands' in the bright areas too. What does that mean?

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[volcanopele]

I was refering to the splotch from Tuesday's image but is in the gap on my Ta mosaic. For best results, read the Ta mosaic caption, then the Tb mosaic caption. It will make far more since then.

[djellison]

Can I just say - DAMN - this is one mystifying hell hole

Doug

[alan]

I'm curious, did they make this mosaic
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi....jpg&type=image
out of raw images that look like this
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=28659

[volcanopele]

I'm curious, did they make this mosaic
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gs2.cgi....jpg&type=image
out of raw images that look like this
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...eiImageID=28659

The images I used aren't on the raw images page for some reason.

[alan]

Thats odd, I checked the raw images, used the search to find most recent images of Titan, now the most recent ones that come up are from October.

[Bjorn Jonsson]

Yes, very strange. The most recent images there of any target are from October 26.

[Decepticon]

I can hear the X-files Theme Song as I type this.

It happened last night around 10pm est.

[alan]

I was waiting for the medium resolution images from the recent flyby to come in so I could look for changes, wishful thinking I know, maybe they don't want anyone beating them to it

[volcanopele]

all the medium resolution images taken in Ta and Tb have been released in those mosaics. I swear. Okay, there are two and half missing from the Tb mosaic, one because I put in the wrong geometry, the other one a half because they only had one image for those frames, and didn't want to mess with those.

[alan]

I wasn't thinking that they weren't being released, I was expecting to see the individual frames 500x500 rather than shunk down and pasted together in a mosaic. Of course there may not have been much detail visible is the raw images, I remember all the nearly black ones from the first pass.

[volcanopele]

unfortunately, due to the low signal in the close up Titan images ,the normal stretching scheme used by the raw iamges page breaks down, as you saw from Ta. I in no way control what images are put up and when, but I doubt you would get much out of them, but I never know.

[alan]

I've seen plans four a four year mission for Cassini. What happens after this? Crash it into Saturn like they did with Galileo or an extended mission? I'd like to see it in orbit around Titan but that doesn't seem likely since it ends in a near polar orbit around Saturn.

[volcanopele]

I've seen plans four a four year mission for Cassini. What happens after this? Crash it into Saturn like they did with Galileo or an extended mission? I'd like to see it in orbit around Titan but that doesn't seem likely since it ends in a near polar orbit around Saturn.

My reply is at http://mer.rlproject.com/index.php?showtop...st=0&#entry3089