Rhea Revisited, Mosaics from the 30 August 2007 Encounter Options

[Exploitcorporati...]

In the excitement leading up to the Iapetus flyby twelve days later, the 5000 km-range nontargeted Rhea encounter (49RH) recieved relatively little attention here. As we all know, Rhea is the most dynamic and thrilling of the worlds in orbit around Saturn, and I'm certain that the short shrift it's been given infuriates you all to the point of aneurysm. A combination of sucktastic downsampling on the raws page, smeared Saturnshine, and equatorial-ridge envy doomed this beautiful visit to oblivion. As I've had the pleasure of taking a day off to play with these (thanks Emily for that awesome Selected ISS Data page!) I'm proud/drunk to present The Forgotten Flyby.

[Exploitcorporati...]

As Cassini approached between 66,000 and 48,000km from Rhea, 32 clear-filtered frames were accquired of the sunlit crescent and the nightside illuminated by Saturnshine. The 12-frame crescent mosaic is as far as I know the largest of the crescent views taken by ISS during the prime mission.

ISS_049RH_CRESCENT001_PRIME:

[Exploitcorporati...]

The 20-frame Saturnshine attempt seems to have been smeared into uselessness, but a few bright spots remain. Three of the images are fairly clean, providing the best view to date of a portion of the Izanagi basin and the nearby curious linear feature as well as a few of the icy cliffs in the north. This is complete composite of all 32 footprints.

[Exploitcorporati...]

Just past the point of closest approach, the spacecraft captured the first of three high-resolution sequences, this one near the terminator as a ridealong with CIRS. The westernmost image shows the deep, angular, relatively fresh crater visible near the center of the crescent mosaic. It features lobate landslide flows and a few sharp linear grooves. These were the closest views of the encounter, at roughly 8600 km. A simultaneous wide angle frame is used for context. Gorgeous detail!

ISS_049RH_HIRESMAP001_CIRS:

[volcanopele]

Very nice! I have to admit, I didn't pay much attention to this encounter, so it is nice to see something done with these.

[Exploitcorporati...]

Possibly the highlight of the encounter, the huge 14-footprint mosaic and stereo views of the very prominent (and hopefully soon to be named) ray crater are truly astonishing. This may be one of the best observations of the PM, and nicely compliments the single frame of it accquired during the previous close pass in November 2005. Here's the eleven shots comprising the mosaic portion of this sequence. Keep in mind that limitations imposed by: a)software and : exploitcorporations' alcohol consumption results in distortions of perspective and position. I take no responsibility for you getting lost and your oxygen bottle running out.

ISS_049RH_HIGHRES001_PRIME

[Exploitcorporati...]

Very nice! I have to admit, I didn't pay much attention to this encounter, so it is nice to see something done with these.

Thanks, VP! I had the sinking feeling that much of this would never see the light of day, and they're such nicely done sequences. ISS deserves another batch of cookies.

[Exploitcorporati...]

Here's poster showcasing all the currently available products from this flyby with *&%#@(!!) Ray Crater in view. I stole ugordan's fantastic distant color rendition from his flickr page. (psssst....I'd like to see that whole mosaic in color sometime. If anyone can do it, it's you.) The closeup view in the upper right corner begs a few questions...."Is all that powdery craterless freshness landslides? What's up with that peppering of tiny craters near the central peak? Are those layers in them thar walls?"
On that note, where does the time go?

[Exploitcorporati...]

The last of the three high resolution observations was taken at roughly 25.000 km. It's a south-to-north transect of a region just to the southeast of the unnamed basin adjacent to Tirawa (whew...you're probably just ast lost as I usually am after that).
Wherever that happens to be, the southermost (bottom) frame has what might be a spectacular crater chain or graben. I'll bet on the latter. Two images from the global mosiac are included to the left for context.

ISS_049RH_HIGHRES001_PRIME (part 2)

[elakdawalla]

...exploitcorporations' alcohol consumption...

I don't know if it's ironic, hilarious, troubling, or deeply, deeply sad that I read the above at 10 pm in an at least slightly inebriated condition, after the consumption of three cocktails...

I guess drinking and mosaicking is OK, EC, because this is great work. You've inspired me to get back to the updating and reformatting of my satellite pages. Workin' on Dione as I type. EDIT: Dione's done.

--Emily

[Exploitcorporati...]

Just a few odds and ends before I sign out...too tired (ahem) to finish up the parting global mosaic. Yeah, the one with Saturn's big yellow butt in the background. I hereby throw down ye olde gauntlet to ugordan to complete or collaborate on That Thing. If the backdrop is somewhat consistent, it would be freaking stunning. A clear filter version should be posted here soon.

Sorry for being lazy/absent/ugly/electrocuted/ect. I lurk religiously and post stingily. Except for today.

For Doug and admins: (Politics, politics, politics {urp}, politics, politics, random pop-culture reference, image, politics, image, politics, politics, BLEEEARGGGHHH!!!, pentinence....{hiccup}, politics. And thanks for running the forum. Yes, I will get an image hosting account somewhere.

There's a scarp in the middle of it all.

[Exploitcorporati...]

I don't know if it's ironic, hilarious, troubling, or deeply, deeply sad that I read the above at 10 pm in an at least slightly inebriated condition, after the consumption of three cocktails...

I guess drinking and mosaicking is OK, EC, because this is great work. You've inspired me to get back to the updating and reformatting of my satellite pages. Workin' on Dione as I type. EDIT: Dione's done.

--Emily

WOOHOOO!!!!. I vote for all of the above. I hope they were competent cocktails. Dione and I are headed down to the Crescent for Karaoke Assault Squad and "Why Did You Bring that 1100km-Diameter Iceball Into Our Bar?" Night. Regardless, (don't?) drive safely, and I need to find pants. Poof.

[volcanopele]

Now don't go mixing politics with image processing. That's worse than alcohol and image processing. Next thing you know, you'll be etching your preferred candidate's name in your image products.

Now don't all go looking at my recent Enceladus products...

[Stu]

I don't know if it's ironic, hilarious, troubling, or deeply, deeply sad that I read the above at 10 pm in an at least slightly inebriated condition, after the consumption of three cocktails...

After all the "technical hitches" during the UStream chat, I'm frankly amazed you limited yourself to just 3 drinks..!! ( It went very well though, eventually, another good show, well done. )

[Exploitcorporati...]

Now don't go mixing politics with image processing. That's worse than alcohol and image processing. Next thing you know, you'll be etching your preferred candidate's name in your image products.

Now don't all go looking at my recent Enceladus products...

He's late, again. I'll tear myself away from waiting long enough to state that there's a teensy tiny Peter Kropotkin lodged inside Izanami basin. (PS: he's almost as dead as Rhea) Pffff...your Enceladus products are merely accurate, beautiful, and scientifically useful distractions from both my beer and my caffeine-fueled and morally superior DIY Enceladus finger paintings. I will now crawl off and yell at the cat.