Rev 253: Dec 15-22, 2016, Saturn, rings and Pandora |
Rev 253: Dec 15-22, 2016, Saturn, rings and Pandora |
Dec 21 2016, 08:20 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 102 Joined: 29-January 10 From: Poland Member No.: 5205 |
Here is new photo of Pandora - 2016-12-18 21:15 (UTC)
from IR3, Green, and UV3 filters N00273192-uv3 N00273193-ir3 N00273194-g -------------------- Adam Hurcewicz from Poland
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Dec 21 2016, 09:36 PM
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#2
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
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Dec 21 2016, 11:00 PM
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#3
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
On Twitter, Damia pointed out that the ring images are really spectacular now. As mentioned by Damia, in this image obtained on 2016-12-18 22:47 (UTC), non-parallel features are visible in the rings. As far as I know, Cassini is now obtaining the highest resolution ring images it has obtained since the hours following Saturn Orbit Insertion back in July 2004.
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Dec 21 2016, 11:36 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1619 Joined: 12-February 06 From: Bergerac - FR Member No.: 678 |
Yeah, it astound me. I wasn't expected features like that ! It looks like some stretched material, but it's not, because it's ice and rock cobbles, dust, an everything.
Is it possible to know the resolution of this picture, x meters by pixel for example ? -------------------- |
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Dec 22 2016, 12:22 AM
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#5
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
The problem is that I don't know the viewing geometry or exactly which part of the rings this image shows. But when the image was obtained Cassini was ~156,000 km from Saturn's center and the subspacecraft latitude was 33 degrees south, i.e. we are viewing the unlit side of the rings.
Assuming that Cassini was viewing the ring radial distances visible in the image at close to the highest possible resolution and that the image shows features not far from the Cassini Division the resolution should be ~500 meters/pixel. If instead this is the inner part of the B ring the resolution becomes ~600 meters/pixel. This is a lot of 'ifs' but at least it indicates that the resolution is very likely to be better than 1 km/pixel and that it is *probably* not far from 0.5 km/pixel. |
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Dec 22 2016, 12:59 AM
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#6
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IMG to PNG GOD Group: Moderator Posts: 2254 Joined: 19-February 04 From: Near fire and ice Member No.: 38 |
Additional information - I decided to take a loot at the CICLOPS Looking Ahead page and found this (see http://www.ciclops.org/view/8451/Rev251-253):
QUOTE After the Pandora observation, ISS will acquire a series of very high-resolution radial scans of the unlit side of Saturn's ring system. These will be the highest resolution, ISS ring observation to date. This observation will include images of the outer B ring and Cassini division, the middle A ring, and the outer A ring, including the Keeler Gap which is generated by the gravitational interaction between ring particles and the embedded small moon Daphnis. I'm now pretty sure that the resolution of the above ring image is ~0.5 km/pixel. |
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