More from Cassini/Huygens

[Wabbit]

Thanks for posting this stuff, SillyWabbit! I've been following the Cassini-Huygens progress but haven't checked up on it in the last couple weeks - your thread was a good reminder.

Do you have a telescope?

You're welcome! I am glad you are liking it

No, I don't have a telescope I think there is too much light pollution for me to see much of anything in London. I would like to see the moon though a powerful telescope though

 

[Wabbit]

"Following its first flyby of Titan, Cassini gazed back at the smog-enshrouded moon's receding crescent. This natural color view was seen by the spacecraft about one day after closest approach. The slight bluish glow of Titan's haze is visible along the limb.

The superimposed coordinate system grid in the accompanying image at right illustrates the geographical regions of the moon that are illuminated and visible, as well as the orientation of Titan -- lines of longitude converge on the South Pole near the moon's eastern limb. The yellow curve marks the position of the boundary between day and night on Titan.

Images taken through blue, green and red filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on July 3, 2004, from a distance of about 790,000 kilometers (491,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase angle of 115 degrees. The image scale is 47 kilometers (29 miles) per pixel.

Looks amazing, huh? I'm really longing for the time when the Huygens probe is droped though the hydrocarbon smog to the suface of Titan

 

[Jenem]

Looks amazing, huh? I'm really longing for the time when the Huygens probe is droped though the hydrocarbon smog to the suface of Titan

Yes, those pictures will be pretty interesting. It's amazing how successful this mission has been.

My wonderful husband bought me a telescope a couple years ago for Christmas. It's not super powerful because I'm still a novice (it's f5, I think) but it gives me great views of the moon and planets in our solar system (jupiter blew my mind).

 

[Wabbit]

Wow, sounds amazing!

I would love to be able to see that. It must be really amazing to be with a telescope and see those far away worlds.

 

[Jenem]

it is! it's so incredible to think that this pin prick of light is actually this amazing WORLD. it's humbling, too, though. makes you feel so insignificant, and yet the awe! one of my favorite things is seeing the reactions of people the first time they look through the 'scope at the moon. most people don't think it'll be anything interesting at all (i've had to COAX people to bother). but they've ALWAYS been blown away.

not enough people appreciate what's in the sky and beyond.

 

[Wabbit]

Another amazing image from Cassini!

In other news: "The Cassini spacecraft, which began its tour of the Saturn system just over a month ago, has detected lightning and a new radiation belt at Saturn, and a glow around the planet's largest moon, Titan.

The spacecraft's radio and plasma wave science instrument detected radio waves generated by lightning. "We are detecting the same crackle and pop one hears when listening to an AM radio broadcast during a thunderstorm," said Dr. Bill Kurth, deputy principal investigator on the radio and plasma wave instrument, University of Iowa, Iowa City. "These storms are dramatically different than those observed 20 years ago."

Cassini finds radio bursts from this lightning are highly episodic. There are large variations in the occurrence of lightning from day to day, sometimes with little or no lightning, suggesting a number of different, possibly short-lived storms at middle to high latitudes. Voyager observed lightning from an extended storm system at low latitudes, which lasted for months and appeared highly regular from one day to the next. "

 

[Wabbit]

*deep sigh*

This is a close up of the moon Titan. You can see the haze of the atmosphere in this photo. On the 26th of this month the Cassini probe will take it's closest fly by yet of the moon!

 

[Jenem]

neat pic. i haven't checked out that website in quite some time. tomorrow night there will be an eclipse of the moon - and we're gonna have clear weather here!

 

[True@1stLight]

TODAY TODAY TODAY!!!!! Cassini is gonna be the closest to Titan EVER!!!!! Can't wait for the new pics!

 

[Wabbit]

Yeah! Awaiting the pics!!!!

Jenem, England is cloudy as always lol

 

[Wabbit]

Stunning



Isn't that amazing and beautiful?

Text for photo: "n a splendid portrait created by light and gravity, Saturn's lonely moon Mimas is seen against the cool, blue-streaked backdrop of Saturn's northern hemisphere. Delicate shadows cast by the rings arc gracefully across the planet, fading into darkness on Saturn's night side.
The part of the atmosphere seen here appears darker and more bluish than the warm brown and gold hues seen in Cassini images of the southern hemisphere, due to preferential scattering of blue wavelengths by the cloud-free upper atmosphere.

The bright blue swath near Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is created by sunlight passing through the Cassini division (4,800 kilometers, or 2,980 miles wide). The rightmost part of this distinctive feature is slightly overexposed and therefore bright white in this image. Shadows of several thin ringlets within the division can be seen here as well. The dark band that stretches across the center of the image is the shadow of Saturn's B ring, the densest of the main rings. Part of the actual Cassini division appears at the bottom, along with the A ring and the narrow, outer F ring. The A ring is transparent enough that, from this viewing angle, the atmosphere and threadlike shadows cast by the inner C ring are visible through it.

Images taken with red, green and blue filters were combined to create this color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Nov. 7, 2004, at a distance of 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 22 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.

 

[Wabbit]

Rugged Iapetus
January 1, 2005

This image of Iapetus was taken on Dec. 31, 2004 at a range of about 71,978 kilometers (44,725 miles) from the icy moon.



Great photo! Not too long now till huygens desends into the murky deeps of Titan's atmosphear! Jan 14, here we come! I am excited!

 

[Wabbit]

She's Down!

Well, Huygens is finally down on the surface! Really exciting stuff!

View attachment atinypic_com_198aiv

This is one of the first raw images returned by the ESA Huygens probe during its successful descent. It was taken from an altitude of 16.2 kilometres with a resolution of approximately 40 metres per pixel. It apparently shows short, stubby drainage channels leading to a shoreline.
It was taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

View attachment atinypic_com_198acy
January 14, 2005

This is one of the first raw images returned by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to Titan. It was taken at an altitude of 8 kilometers with a resolution of 20 meters per pixel. It shows what could be the landing site, with shorelines and boundaries between raised ground and flooded plains.
It was taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

This image was returned yesterday, January 14, 2005, by the European Space Agency's Huygens probe during its successful descent to land on Titan. This is the colored view, following processing to add reflection spectra data, and gives a better indication of the actual color of the surface.
Initially thought to be rocks or ice blocks, they are more pebble-sized. The two rock-like objects just below the middle of the image are about 15 centimeters (about 6 inches) (left) and 4 centimeters (about 1.5 inches) (center) across respectively, at a distance of about 85 centimeters (about 33 inches) from Huygens. The surface is darker than originally expected, consisting of a mixture of water and hydrocarbon ice. There is also evidence of erosion at the base of these objects, indicating possible fluvial activity. The image was taken with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, one of two NASA instruments on the probe.