[X] My Assistant

[jasedm]

Latest article is up

The highlight has to be a sub-25,000km flyby of Rhea on 22nd December, with ISS observations yielding 140m/pixel resolution at closest approach. 3 sets of mosaics are planned, focusing on the North pole and the trailing hemisphere.

Rhea's north pole has had relatively low-res coverage up until now, so this will be interesting.

[jasedm]

Thanks Steve for your map update.

Floyd, After a quick scan of the published sources, it appears that the best chance to fill that imaging gap (and thus vanquish those dragons) is a March 9th targeted flyby this year, with closest approach (c/a) at just under 1000km.

Cassini's orbital inclination remains high (57 degrees) so the spacecraft will be looking 'down' towards Rhea's north pole which is fairly-well illuminated by the sun.

I suspect (but don't know for sure) that gravity measurements may be the priority at c/a, but I'd be amazed if there weren't some pretty spectacular high-res images planned for the outward-bound leg of the encounter. (approach is from the night-side)

Subsequent to this, I suspect we won't be seeing Rhea's north pole in greater detail for a half-century or so...

Jase