Rev 132 - May 26-Jun 11, 2010 - Rhea Options

[jasedm]

Jason's looking ahead article now available over at ciclops for the next revolution. Great Titan flyby, a look at Rhea, and a far-out (100,000km +) view of Pandora. It will be great to see the other side of Pandora, as the moon seems to have been neglected somewhat (other competing targets of course...) since the flyby five years ago.

Thanks Jason, always appreciated that we're able to be party to upcoming goodies.

[Phil Stooke]

Here's Pandora... start and end of the sequence, three frames averaged, with little change in orientation but some change in illumination.

Phil

[elakdawalla]

Damn, Phil, I just checked for the raws half an hour ago and they weren't up yet. Quick work! Got a few Rhea pics up there now too.

[nprev]

Beautiful, Phil.

Strange-looking thing; oddly looks like a model of itself with the bright (ice?) glints off the crater rims & the subdued topography from ring material deposition.

[JohnVV]

i swear that i cooked that thing with dinner
sliced and browned in a cast iron skillet

[Juramike]

6-frame mosaic of Rhea (go on! I dare ya to find the seams!):



A big 4000 x 4000 pixel original size image in all it's icy cratery goodness can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/4670487271/


But there's something kinda strange in this image....

[Juramike]

Anybody know what this is? This is an unaltered crop from image N00154971 (I even left the dropouts in).



The strange linear feature in the center of the image angles across the JPEG artifacts. Shading comparison with craters would indicate it is a straight trench if it is a surface feature.

[ElkGroveDan]

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that something passed between Cassini and Rhea as the picture was being taken.

Here's the full image deinterlaced.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[JohnVV]

this shows it all - a chain
[attachment=21841:Screenshot.png]
cleaned up and most jpg artifacts removed
[attachment=21842:N00154971.png]

i have been seeing these things all over the place
come to think of it isn't there a thread on that someplace ?

[Juramike]

It's a real surface feature!

Using Celestia, and Tirawa Crater as a reference, I reckon this feature is at [-37S, 173W] in this image.

A peek at Planetary Photojournal image PIA12561 (Map of Rhea - February 2010) and you can clearly see it at the same location [-35S, 170W] in lower left near the edge of the map]. Shading also appears to make this feature as a trench also.

[nomisn]

Great view of Daphinis and another moon creating waves in the latest batch of images on the Cassini raw images page

ttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS60/N00154943.jpg

Part of a sequence of images of the rings starting here

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/inde...storedQ=2239945

Cheers

[Floyd]

Wow, those are among some of the best shots of Daphinis and its bending waves ever taken. Surprised the viewing is so good several months past equinox. Pan is the other moon and the view of its induced waves is also amazing.

link to image [nomisn's first link is missing an "h" at the start]

If I am interpreting this correctly, we are not seeing shadows projected on the rings, like at equinox, but rather different light reflecting off crests and valleys of induced waves in the ring plane.

[nomisn]

Sorry. Thanks Floyd for the correct link. Wow indeed. I agree. One of the best Daphinis wave images so far.

[Bill Harris]

It's a real surface feature! (The strange linear feature)

I've puzzled over that before. Straight and uniform with respect to topography, it almost looks "artificial". I concluded that, with all of the crater chains, ejecta scars and tectonic featuress we've seen on the Icy Moons this one just happens to be straight and uniform.

Wow, those are among some of the best shots of Daphinis and its bending waves

And another amazing image in this batch. In a couple of years (or more?) of looking at Daphnis' bending waves, I don't ever recall seeing them this pronounced and extreme. I wonder if anything has changed at Daphnis to create this difference? Again, it may be one of these statistical fluctuations...

--Bill

[ElkGroveDan]

It's a real surface feature! A peek at Planetary Photojournal image PIA12561 (Map of Rhea - February 2010) and you can clearly see it at the same location [-35S, 170W] in lower left near the edge of the map]. Shading also appears to make this feature as a trench also.

I agree but would call it a fracture. No way it's a chain though.