|
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The Usual Suspects
NASA's Cassini spacecraft ta
…
07/15/10
| Description |
NASA's Cassini spacecraft takes us on a guided tour of this mysterious lake on Titan. |
| Date |
07/15/10 |
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Beautiful Ontario Lacus
See Beautiful Ontario Lacus:
…
07/15/10
| Description |
See Beautiful Ontario Lacus: Guided tour of a Titan lake, courtesy of NASA's Cassini. |
| Date |
07/15/10 |
|
Equinox at Saturn
After a 15-year wait, equino
…
9/21/09
| Title |
Equinox at Saturn |
| Date |
9/21/09 |
| Description |
After a 15-year wait, equinox arrived at Saturn and Cassini was there to witness the spectacle of light and shadow. |
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Saturn's Aurora in a New Lig
…
A Cassini scientist explains
…
11/24/09
| Title |
Saturn's Aurora in a New Light |
| Date |
11/24/09 |
| Description |
A Cassini scientist explains the flickering "northern lights" high above Saturn, shown for the first time in a visible-light movie. |
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The Rite of Spring
Of the countless equinoxes S
…
10/15/09
| Description |
Of the countless equinoxes Saturn has seen since the birth of the solar system, this one, captured in a mosaic of light and dark, is the first witnessed up close by an emissary from Earth Îÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__€∆_ none other than our faithful robotic explorer, Cassini. Seen from our planet, the view of Saturn's rings during equinox is extremely foreshortened and limited. But in orbit around Saturn, Cassini had no such problems. From 20 degrees above the ring plane, Cassini's wide angle camera shot 75 exposures in succession for this mosaic showing Saturn, its rings and a few of its moons a day and a half after exact Saturn equinox, when the sun/s disk was exactly overhead at the planet's equator. The novel illumination geometry that accompanies equinox lowers the sun's angle to the ring plane, significantly darkens the rings, and causes out-of-plane structures to look anomalously bright and to cast shadows across the rings. These scenes are possible only during the few months before and after SaturnÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s equinox which occurs only once in about 15 Earth years. Also at equinox, the shadows of the planet's expansive rings are compressed into a single, narrow band cast onto the planet as seen in this mosaic. The images comprising the mosaic, taken over about eight hours, were extensively processed before being joined together. With no enhancement, the rings would be essentially invisible in this mosaic. To improve their visibility, the dark right half of the rings has been brightened relative to the brighter left half by a factor of three, and then the whole ring system has been brightened by a factor of 20 relative to the planet. So the dark half of the rings is 60 times brighter, and the bright half 20 times brighter, than they would have appeared if the entire system, planet included, could have been captured in a single image. The images were taken on Aug. 12, 2009, beginning about 1.25 days after exact equinox, using the red, green and blue spectral filters of the wide angle camera and were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained at a distance of approximately 526,000 miles from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 74 degrees. Image scale is 31 miles per pixel. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
10/15/09 |
|
Happy Halloween
The Cassini team sends "bats
…
10/30/09
| Description |
The Cassini team sends "bats wishes" for a happy, healthy and fun Halloween. 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 mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Image Credit: NASA |
| Date |
10/30/09 |
|
Shadow of Demarcation
Saturn's rings cast a dramat
…
5/4/09
| Description |
Saturn's rings cast a dramatic shadow separating the blues and greens of the planet's northern hemisphere from the creamy pastels coloring the southern hemisphere. This mosaic combines 6 images--2 each of red, green and blue spectral filters--to create this natural color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 30, 2008 at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 30 degrees. Image scale is 42 miles per pixel. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
5/4/09 |
|
Successful Flight Through En
…
The Cassini spacecraft has w
…
11/6/09
| Description |
The Cassini spacecraft has weathered the Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, flyby of SaturnÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s moon Enceladus in good health and has been sending images and data of the encounter back to Earth. Cassini had approached Enceladus more closely before, but this passage took the spacecraft on its deepest plunge yet through the heart of the plume shooting out from the south polar region. Scientists are eagerly sifting through the results. In this unprocessed image, sunlight brightens a crescent curve along the edge of Saturn's moon Enceladus and highlights its misty plume. The image was captured by Cassini's narrow-angle camera as the spacecraft passed about 190,000 kilometers (120,000 miles) over the moon. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2010. At its closest point on Nov. 2, Cassini flew about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Since the discovery of the plume in 2005, scientists have been captivated by the enigmatic jets. Previous flybys detected water vapor, sodium and organic molecules, but scientists need to know more about the plumeÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s composition and density to characterize the source, possibly a liquid ocean under the moonÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s icy surface. It would also help them determine whether Enceladus has the conditions necessary for life. Mission managers did extensive studies to make sure the spacecraft could fly safely through the plumes and not use an excessive amount of propellant. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
11/6/09 |
|
Successful Flight Through En
…
The Cassini spacecraft has w
…
11/9/09
| Description |
The Cassini spacecraft has weathered the Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, flyby of SaturnÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s moon Enceladus in good health and has been sending images and data of the encounter back to Earth. Cassini had approached Enceladus more closely before, but this passage took the spacecraft on its deepest plunge yet through the heart of the plume shooting out from the south polar region. Scientists are eagerly sifting through the results. In this unprocessed image, sunlight brightens a crescent curve along the edge of Saturn's moon Enceladus and highlights its misty plume. The image was captured by Cassini's narrow-angle camera as the spacecraft passed about 190,000 kilometers (120,000 miles) over the moon. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2010. At its closest point on Nov. 2, Cassini flew about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Since the discovery of the plume in 2005, scientists have been captivated by the enigmatic jets. Previous flybys detected water vapor, sodium and organic molecules, but scientists need to know more about the plumeÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s composition and density to characterize the source, possibly a liquid ocean under the moonÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s icy surface. It would also help them determine whether Enceladus has the conditions necessary for life. Mission managers did extensive studies to make sure the spacecraft could fly safely through the plumes and not use an excessive amount of propellant. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
11/9/09 |
|
Happy New Year!
Wishing all a joyful new yea
…
12/31/09
| Description |
Wishing all a joyful new year, members of the Cassini-Huygens team offer us their views of Saturn and the Cassini spacecraft. Cassini-Huygens, a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, which is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA. The Cassini orbiter (pictured at the top right of this image) and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
12/31/09 |
|
Happy Holidays
Wishing all the happiest of
…
12/24/09
| Description |
Wishing all the happiest of holidays, members of the Cassini-Huygens team offer their views of Saturn and its moons as gifts to the universe. Cassini-Huygens, a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, is a mission that is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA. The Cassini orbiter (pictured at the bottom of this image) and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. Image Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
12/24/09 |
|
In this artist's rendering,
…
| Description |
In this artist's rendering, the European-provided Huygens probe parachutes to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan after being released by the Cassini orbiter. Cassini will receive and relay to Earth scientific data collected by instruments on the probe, then explore Saturn, its many moons, ring system and magnetic environment for nearly four years. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency and is scheduled for launch in October 1997. [Painting for NASA by Craig Attebery] |
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Young painters at the Academ
…
| Description |
Young painters at the Academia de Artes Yepes in East Los Angeles created this 12-by-20 foot mural depicting the Cassini Mission to Saturn -- a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The huge painting shows the mythological Roman god Saturn, symbolizing Time, drawing back a veil to reveal the mysteries of the Saturnian system to the Cassini spacecraft. The mission will be launched in October 1997, with the spacecraft arriving at Saturn in July 2004 to conduct a four-year tour in orbit around the ringed planet. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
8/22/97
| Date |
8/22/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF), the Cassini spacecraft is being lifted for placement on a transporter which will move it to Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS). Cassini is an international mission conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The two-story-tall spacecraft, scheduled for launch on Oct. 6, is destined to arrive at Saturn in July 2004, where it will study the planet, its rings, moons and magnetic environment in detail over a four-year period. The Cassini mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, one of three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) is being installed on the Cassini spacecraft. RTGs are lightweight, compact spacecraft electrical power systems that have flown successfully on 23 previous U.S. missions over the past 37 years. These generators produce power by converting heat into electrical energy, the heat is provided by the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 dioxide, a non-weapons-grade material. RTGs enable spacecraft to operate at significant distances from the Sun where solar power systems would not be feasible. Cassini will travel two billion miles to reach Saturn and another 1.1 billion miles while in orbit around Saturn. Cassini is undergoing final preparations for liftoff on a Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle, with the launch window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, workers are installing three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) on the Cassini spacecraft. RTGs are lightweight, compact spacecraft electrical power systems that have flown successfully on 23 previous U.S. missions over the past 37 years. These generators produce power by converting heat into electrical energy, the heat is provided by the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 dioxide, a non-weapons-grade material. RTGs enable spacecraft to operate at significant distances from the Sun where solar power systems would not be feasible. Cassini will travel two billion miles to reach Saturn and another 1.1 billion miles while in orbit around Saturn. Cassini is undergoing final preparations for liftoff on a Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle, with the launch window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13. |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, workers are installing three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) on the Cassini spacecraft. RTGs are lightweight, compact spacecraft electrical power systems that have flown successfully on 23 previous U.S. missions over the past 37 years. These generators produce power by converting heat into electrical energy, the heat is provided by the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 dioxide, a non-weapons-grade material. RTGs enable spacecraft to operate at significant distances from the Sun where solar power systems would not be feasible. Cassini will travel two billion miles to reach Saturn and another 1.1 billion miles while in orbit around Saturn. Cassini is undergoing final preparations for liftoff on a Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle, with the launch window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13. |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the Mobile Service Tower is rolled away from the Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini spacecraft, marking a major milestone in the launch countdown sequence. Retraction of the structure began about an hour later than scheduled due to minor problems with ground support equipment. The countdown clock for the Cassini mission began ticking earlier today at the T-26-hour mark. Other upcoming prelaunch milestones include activation of the final launch sequence for the Cassini spacecraft at the T-180-minute mark in the countdown, to be followed about an hour later by initiation of loading of the Titan IVB's Centaur stage with its complement of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Liftoff of Cassini on the journey to Saturn and its moon Titan is slated to occur during a window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13, and extending through 7:15 a.m. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the Mobile Service Tower has been retracted away from the Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini spacecraft, marking a major milestone in the launch countdown sequence. Retraction of the structure began about an hour later than scheduled due to minor problems with ground support equipment. The launch vehicle, Cassini spacecraft and attached Centaur stage encased in a payload fairing, altogether stand about 183 feet tall, mounted at the base of the launch vehicle are two upgraded solid rocket motors. Liftoff of Cassini on the journey to Saturn and its moon Titan is slated to occur during a window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13, and extending through 7:15 a.m. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/15/97
| Date |
10/15/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A seven-year journey to the ringed planet Saturn begins with the liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe. This spectacular streak shot was taken from Hangar AF on Cape Canaveral Air Station, with a solid rocket booster retrieval ship in the foreground. Launch occurred at 4:43 a.m. EDT, Oct. 15, from Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station. After a 2.2-billion mile journey that will include two swingbys of Venus and one of Earth to gain additional velocity, the two-story tall spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in July 2004. The orbiter will circle the planet for four years, its complement of 12 scientific instruments gathering data about Saturn's atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere and conducting closeup observations of the Saturnian moons. Huygens, with a separate suite of six science instruments, will separate from Cassini to fly on a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the only celestial body besides Earth to have an atmosphere rich in nitrogen. Scientists are eager to study further this chemical similarity in hopes of learning more about the origins of our own planet Earth. Huygens will provide the first direct sampling of Titan's atmospheric chemistry and the first detailed photographs of its surface. The Cassini mission is an international effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. contribution to the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. The major U.S. contractor is Lockheed Martin, which provided the launch vehicle and upper stage, spacecraft propulsion module and radioisotope thermoelectric generators that will provide power for the spacecraft. The Titan IV/Centaur is a U.S. Air Force launch vehicle, and launch operations were managed by the 45th Space Wing. |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/15/97
| Date |
10/15/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A seven-year journey to the ringed planet Saturn begins with the liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe. Launch occurred at 4:43 a.m. EDT, Oct. 15, from Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station. After a 2.2-billion mile journey that will include two swingbys of Venus and one of Earth to gain additional velocity, the two-story tall spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in July 2004. The orbiter will circle the planet for four years, its complement of 12 scientific instruments gathering data about Saturn's atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere and conducting closeup observations of the Saturnian moons. Huygens, with a separate suite of six science instruments, will separate from Cassini to fly on a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the only celestial body besides Earth to have an atmosphere rich in nitrogen. Scientists are eager to study further this chemical similarity in hopes of learning more about the origins of our own planet Earth. Huygens will provide the first direct sampling of Titan's atmospheric chemistry and the first detailed photographs of its surface. The Cassini mission is an international effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. contribution to the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. The major U.S. contractor is Lockheed Martin, which provided the launch vehicle and upper stage, spacecraft propulsion module and radioisotope thermoelectric generators that will provide power for the spacecraft. The Titan IV/Centaur is a U.S. Air Force launch vehicle, and launch operations were managed by the 45th Space Wing. |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/15/97
| Date |
10/15/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A seven-year journey to the ringed planet Saturn begins with the liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe. Launch occurred at 4:43 a.m. EDT, Oct. 15, from Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station. After a 2.2-billion mile journey that will include two swingbys of Venus and one of Earth to gain additional velocity, the two-story tall spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in July 2004. The orbiter will circle the planet for four years, its complement of 12 scientific instruments gathering data about Saturn's atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere and conducting closeup observations of the Saturnian moons. Huygens, with a separate suite of six science instruments, will separate from Cassini to fly on a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the only celestial body besides Earth to have an atmosphere rich in nitrogen. Scientists are eager to study further this chemical similarity in hopes of learning more about the origins of our own planet Earth. Huygens will provide the first direct sampling of Titan's atmospheric chemistry and the first detailed photographs of its surface. The Cassini mission is an international effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. contribution to the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. The major U.S. contractor is Lockheed Martin, which provided the launch vehicle and upper stage, spacecraft propulsion module and radioisotope thermoelectric generators that will provide power for the spacecraft. The Titan IV/Centaur is a U.S. Air Force launch vehicle, and launch operations were managed by the 45th Space Wing. |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/15/97
| Date |
10/15/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A seven-year journey to the ringed planet Saturn begins with the liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe. Launch occurred at 4:43 a.m. EDT, Oct. 15, from Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station. After a 2.2-billion mile journey that will include two swingbys of Venus and one of Earth to gain additional velocity, the two-story tall spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in July 2004. The orbiter will circle the planet for four years, its complement of 12 scientific instruments gathering data about Saturn's atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere and conducting closeup observations of the Saturnian moons. Huygens, with a separate suite of six science instruments, will separate from Cassini to fly on a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the only celestial body besides Earth to have an atmosphere rich in nitrogen. Scientists are eager to study further this chemical similarity in hopes of learning more about the origins of our own planet Earth. Huygens will provide the first direct sampling of Titan's atmospheric chemistry and the first detailed photographs of its surface. The Cassini mission is an international effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. contribution to the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. The major U.S. contractor is Lockheed Martin, which provided the launch vehicle and upper stage, spacecraft propulsion module and radioisotope thermoelectric generators that will provide power for the spacecraft. The Titan IV/Centaur is a U.S. Air Force launch vehicle, and launch operations were managed by the 45th Space Wing. |
|
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
10/15/97
| Date |
10/15/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- A seven-year journey to the ringed planet Saturn begins with the liftoff of a Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini orbiter and its attached Huygens probe. Launch occurred at 4:43 a.m. EDT, Oct. 15, from Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station. After a 2.2-billion mile journey that will include two swingbys of Venus and one of Earth to gain additional velocity, the two-story tall spacecraft will arrive at Saturn in July 2004. The orbiter will circle the planet for four years, its complement of 12 scientific instruments gathering data about Saturn's atmosphere, rings and magnetosphere and conducting closeup observations of the Saturnian moons. Huygens, with a separate suite of six science instruments, will separate from Cassini to fly on a ballistic trajectory toward Titan, the only celestial body besides Earth to have an atmosphere rich in nitrogen. Scientists are eager to study further this chemical similarity in hopes of learning more about the origins of our own planet Earth. Huygens will provide the first direct sampling of Titan's atmospheric chemistry and the first detailed photographs of its surface. The Cassini mission is an international effort involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the U.S. contribution to the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science. The major U.S. contractor is Lockheed Martin, which provided the launch vehicle and upper stage, spacecraft propulsion module and radioisotope thermoelectric generators that will provide power for the spacecraft. The Titan IV/Centaur is a U.S. Air Force launch vehicle, and launch operations were managed by the 45th Space Wing. |
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Pandora
This wide angle field-of-vie
…
3/28/96
| Date |
3/28/96 |
| Description |
This wide angle field-of-view artist's rendering shows the surface of Pandora, one of the shepherds of the F ring, a thin wispy band of material just on the outside of the main rings of Saturn. The F ring is brightly shown on the left hand side of the picture, and Prometheus, the companion shepherd can be seen farther on down the ring on the inner side. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is scheduled for launch in October 1997 and will reach Saturn in July 2004. [Digital composition for NASA- JPL was created by Dave Seal of JPL.] |
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Rhea
This computer rendering show
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3/28/96
| Date |
3/28/96 |
| Description |
This computer rendering shows the surface of Rhea, Saturn's second largest satellite behind Titan. Like Dione and Iapetus, there is a noticeable difference between the two hemispheres of the satellite. Rhea is a densely cratered satellite, and this image shows two of the most prominent craters, Izanagi (the larger) and Izanami (the smaller), which partially overlap. These craters are well into the southern hemisphere. Saturn is seen on the horizon, and a small meteor is seen striking the surface inside the Izanagi crater. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is scheduled for launch in October 1997 and will reach Saturn in July 2004. [Digital composition for NASA-JPL was created by Dave Seal of JPL.] |
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Cassini Engine Burn
In this computer artist's re
…
3/28/96
| Date |
3/28/96 |
| Description |
In this computer artist's rendering, the Cassini spacecraft fires its engine in a maneuver that will place the spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. The orbiter will study the atmosphere, magnetic environment, extensive ring system and moons of the giant planet for four years. Cassini will also release a probe called Huygens that will descend into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to study the atmosphere, surface and chemical composition of this large satellite. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is scheduled for launch in October 1997 and will reach Saturn in July 2004. [Digital composition for NASA-JPL was created by Dave Seal of JPL.] |
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Technicians at the Jet Propu
…
| Description |
Technicians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ready the power and pyro subsystem for installation of NASA's Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. The work was one of many major milestones met in the Cassini program in January 1996. Cassini is scheduled for launch to Saturn in October 1997 and will arrive at the ringed planet in July 2004 to begin four years of detailed studies there. It will also carry a parachuted probe to be dropped to the surface of Saturn's large moon Titan. The Cassini mission is a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. |
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The Saturn-bound Cassini spa
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8/16/99
| Date |
8/16/99 |
| Description |
The Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft will fly past the Earth Tuesday, August 17, at 8:28 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time (August 18 at 03:28 Universal Time). Launched in October 1997, Cassini will gain a boost in speed during its Earth flyby, which occurs at an altitude of 1,166 kilometers (725 miles) over the eastern South Pacific at -23.5 degrees latitude and 231.5 degrees longitude. Two successful flybys of Venus, next week's flyby of Earth, and a flyby of Jupiter in December 2000 all give Cassini the additional speed it needs to reach Saturn in 2004. Cassini is a joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, and is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. [Image for NASA-JPL was created by John Aiello of JPL.] |
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Jupiter casts a baleful eye
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| Description |
Jupiter casts a baleful eye on wayward Ganymede in this frame, color-composited from narrow angle images taken on November 18 and high-pass filtered and contrast-enhanced to bring out details not readily seen otherwise. The smallest features in this image are 240 km across. Jupiter's `eye', the Great Red Spot, was captured just before disappearing over the eastern limb of the planet. The furrowed eyebrow above and to the left of the Spot is a turbulent wake region caused by westward flow deflected to the north and around the Red Spot. (An animation of ISS images from early October, beautifully illustrating this flow, was released on November 20 and can be viewed below.) Within the band south of the Red Spot are seen a trio of white ovals, small high pressure counter-clockwise rotating regions that are dynamically similar to the Red Spot. The dark filamentary features interspersed between the white ovals are probably cyclonic circulations, similar to those seen by Galileo, and, unlike the ovals, are rotating clockwise. Jupiter's Equatorial Zone stretching across the planet to the north of the Spot appears bright white, with gigantic plume clouds spreading out from the equator both to the northeast and to the southest. in a chevron pattern. This zone looks distinctly different than it did during the Voyager flyby 21 years ago when its color was predominantly brown, and only SW/NE-trending white plumes north of the equator were conspicous against the darker material beneath. The bluish gray regions near the equator, noted in earlier releases, are regions where the clouds have cleared and, except for partial obscuration by thin upper level hazes, we can see to great depth. The darker, brownish North Equatorial belt north of the Equatorial Zone is also quite turbulent. (See accompanying release below.) Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon, about 50% larger than our own Moon and larger than the planet Mercury. Like the Moon and Mercury, Ganymede has no atmosphere, the visible details seen in this image are different geological terrains on the satellite's surface. Dark areas tend to be older and heavily cratered, the brighter locales are younger and more sparsely cratered. The latter are the famed grooved terrains first seen by Voyager and imaged at high resolution by Galileo. Cassini images of Ganymede and the other Galilean satellites taken near closest approach on December 30 will have resolutions of ~60 km/pixel, four times better than that seen here. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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This 4-panel frame shows a s
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| Description |
This 4-panel frame shows a section of Jupiter's North Equatorial Belt viewed by Cassini at 4 different wavelengths on November 27, when the resolution had improved to 192 km/pixel, surpassing the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera in resolving power. The images have been contrast-enhanced for the purpose of illustration. The upper panel is an image taken in the near-infrared at a wavelength inaccessible to the human eye. The gases in the atmosphere are relatively non-absorbing, allowing sunlight to penetrate deeply into the atmosphere and be reflected back out, thus giving us a direct view of the deeper regions of the troposphere. (On Earth, the troposphere is the portion of the atmosphere closest to the surface, in which most of the atmospheric water vapor resides.) The second panel is taken in the blue at shorter wavelengths detected by the human eye. At these wavelengths, gases in the atmosphere scatter a modest amount of sunlight, so the clouds we see tend to be at somewhat higher altitudes than in the uppermost panel. The third panel shows near-infrared reflected sunlight at a wavelength where the gas methane, an important constituent of Jupiter's atmosphere, absorbs strongly. In this image, dark places are locations of strong absorption (i.e., regions without high-level clouds and consequently large amounts of methane accessible to sunlight), and bright regions are locations with high (upper troposphere) clouds shielding the methane below. The bottom-most panel is an image taken in the ultraviolet. At these very short wavelengths, the clear atmosphere scatters sunlight, and stratospheric hazes absorb sunlight, both very efficiently, making it difficult to see into the troposphere at all. So bright regions are generally free of high stratospheric hazes. The fascinating aspect of these 4 images is the small bright spot that can be seen in the center of each one. Bright spots similar to this were seen in turbulent regions by the Galileo cameras, and they appear to be very energetic convective storms that move heat from the interior of Jupiter to higher altitudes. These storms are expected to penetrate to great heights, and so it is not surprising to see the storm in the first three images, which probe atmospheric altitudes from the lower to the upper troposphere. What is surprising is the appearance of the spot in the ultraviolet image. This may in fact be a `monster' thunderstorm, penetrating all the way into the stratosphere, as do some summer thunderstorms in the midwestern United States. Higher resolution, time-lapse images to be captured in the coming weeks will shed more light on these spectacular features. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Still from high-clouds Jupit
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This image is one of seven f
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12/11/00
| Date |
12/11/00 |
| Description |
This image is one of seven from the narrow-angle camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft assembled as a brief movie of high-altitude cloud movements on Jupiter. It was taken in early October 2000. The images were taken at a wavelength that is absorbed by methane, one chemical in Jupiter's lower clouds. So, dark areas are relatively free of high clouds, and the camera sees through to the methane in a lower level. Bright areas are places with high, thick clouds that shield the methane below. The area shown covers latitudes from 50 degrees north to 50 degrees south and a 100-degree sweep of longitude. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # |
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Jupiter Eye to Io
This image taken by NASA's C
…
12/11/00
| Date |
12/11/00 |
| Description |
This image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 1, 2000, shows details of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and other features that were not visible in images taken earlier, when Cassini was farther from Jupiter. The picture is a color composite, with enhanced contrast, taken from a distance of 28.6 million kilometers (17.8 million miles). It has a resolution of 170 kilometers (106 miles) per pixel. Jupiter's closest large moon, Io, is visible at left. The edges of the Red Spot are cloudier with ammonia haze than the spot's center is. The filamentary structure in the center appears to spiral outward toward the edge. NASA's Galileo spacecraft has previously observed the outer edges of the Red Spot to be rotating rapidly counterclockwise, while the inner portion was rotating weakly in the opposite direction. Whether the same is true now will be answered as Cassini gets closer to Jupiter and interior cloud features become sharper. Cassini will make its closest approach to Jupiter, at a distance of about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles), on Dec. 30, 2000. The Red Spot region has changed in one notable way over the years: In images from NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, the area surrounding the Red Spot is dark, indicating relatively cloud-free conditions. Now, some bright white ammonia clouds have filled in the clearings. This appears to be part of a general brightening of Jupiter's cloud features during the past two decades. Jupiter has four large moons and an array of tiny ones. In this picture, Io is visible. The white and reddish colors on Io's surface are due to the presence of different sulfurous materials while the black areas are due to silicate rocks. Like the other large moons, Io always keeps the same hemisphere facing Jupiter, called the sub-Jupiter hemisphere. The opposite side, much of which we see here, is the anti-Jupiter hemisphere. Io has more than 100 active volcanoes spewing very hot lava and giant plumes of gas and dust. Its biggest plume, Pele, is near the bottom left edge of Io's disk as seen here. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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High Latitude Mottling on Ju
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The familiar banded appearan
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12/18/00
| Date |
12/18/00 |
| Description |
The familiar banded appearance of Jupiter at low and middle latitudes gradually gives way to a more mottled appearance at high latitudes in this striking true color image taken Dec. 13, 2000, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The intricate structures seen in the polar region are clouds of different chemical composition, height and thickness. Clouds are organized by winds, and the mottled appearance in the polar regions suggests more vortex-type motion and winds of less vigor at higher latitudes. The cause of this difference is not understood. One possible contributor is that the horizontal component of the Coriolis force, which arises from the planet's rotation and is responsible for curving the trajectories of ocean currents and winds on Earth, has its greatest effect at high latitudes and vanishes at the equator. This tends to create small, intense vortices at high latitudes on Jupiter. Another possibility may lie in that fact that Jupiter overall emits nearly as much of its own heat as it absorbs from the Sun, and this internal heat flux is very likely greater at the poles. This condition could lead to enhanced convection at the poles and more vortex-type structures. Further analysis of Cassini images, including analysis of sequences taken over a span of time, should help us understand the cause of equator-to-pole differences in cloud organization and evolution. By the time this picture was taken, Cassini had reached close enough to Jupiter to allow the spacecraft to return images with more detail than what's possible with the planetary camera on NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The resolution here is 114 kilometers (71 miles) per pixel. This contrast- enhanced, edge-sharpened frame was composited from images take at different wavelengths with Cassini's narrow-angle camera, from a distance of 19 million kilometers (11.8 million miles). The spacecraft was in almost a direct line between the Sun and Jupiter, so the solar illumination on Jupiter is almost full phase. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Io in Front of Jupiter
Jupiter's four largest satel
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12/20/00
| Date |
12/20/00 |
| Description |
Jupiter's four largest satellites, including Io, the golden ornament in front of Jupiter in this image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, have fascinated Earthlings ever since Galileo Galilei discovered them in 1610 in one of his first astronomical uses of the telescope. Images from Cassini that will be released over the next several days capture each of the four Galilean satellites in their orbits around the giant planet. This true-color composite frame, made from narrow angle images taken on Dec. 12, 2000, captures Io and its shadow in transit against the disk of Jupiter. The distance of the spacecraft from Jupiter was 19.5 million kilometers (12.1 million miles). The image scale is 117 kilometers (73 miles) per pixel. The entire body of Io, about the size of Earth's Moon, is periodically flexed as it speeds around Jupiter and feels, as a result of its non-circular orbit, the periodically changing gravitational pull of the planet. The heat arising in Io's interior from this continual flexure makes it the most volcanically active body in the solar system, with more than 100 active volcanoes. The white and reddish colors on its surface are due to the presence of different sulfurous materials. The black areas are silicate rocks. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Europa, Callisto and Jupiter
One moment in an ancient, or
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12/21/00
| Date |
12/21/00 |
| Description |
One moment in an ancient, orbital dance is caught in this color picture taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 7, 2000, just as two of Jupiter's four major moons, Europa and Callisto, were nearly perfectly aligned with each other and the center of the planet. The distances are deceiving. Europa, seen against Jupiter, is 600,000 kilometers (370,000 miles) above the planet's cloud tops. Callisto, at lower left, is nearly three times that distance from the cloud tops. Europa is a bit smaller than Earth's Moon and has one of the brightest surfaces in the solar system. Callisto is 50 percent bigger -- roughly the size of Saturn's largest satellite, Titan -- and three times darker than Europa. Its brightness had to be enhanced in this picture, relative Europa's and Jupiter's, in order for Callisto to be seen in this image. Europa and Callisto have had very different geologic histories but share some surprising similarities, such as surfaces rich in ice. Callisto has apparently not undergone major internal compositional stratification, but Europa's interior has differentiated into a rocky core and an outer layer of nearly pure ice. Callisto's ancient surface is completely covered by large impact craters: The brightest features seen on Callisto in this image were discovered by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 to be bright craters, like those on our Moon. In contrast, Europa's young surface is covered by a wild tapestry of ridges, chaotic terrain and only a handful of large craters. Recent data from the magnetometer carried by the Galileo spacecraft, which has been in orbit around Jupiter since 1995, indicate the presence of conducting fluid, most likely salty water, inside both Callisto and Europa. Scientists are eager to discover whether the surface of Saturn's Titan resembles that of Callisto or Europa, or whether it is entirely different, when Cassini finally reaches its destination in 2004. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona ##### |
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Still from Planetwide Movie
This single frame from a col
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12/27/00
| Date |
12/27/00 |
| Description |
This single frame from a color movie of Jupiter from NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows what it would look like to unpeel the entire globe of Jupiter, stretch it out on a wall into the form of a rectangular map. The image is a color cylindrical projection of the complete circumference of Jupiter, from 60 degrees south to 60 degrees north. It was produced from six images taken by Cassini's narrow- band camera on Oct. 31, 2000, in each of three filters: red, green and blue. The smallest visible features at the equator are about 600 kilometers (about 370 miles) across. In a map of this type, the most extreme northern and southern latitudes are unnaturally stretched out. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Satellite Rings
This image sequence, taken b
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12/30/00
| Date |
12/30/00 |
| Description |
This image sequence, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it approached Jupiter, shows the motions, over a 16 hour-period, of two satellites embedded in Jupiter's ring. The moon Adrastea is the fainter of the two, and Metis is the brighter. Images such as these will be used to refine the orbits of the two bodies. The composition was made from images taken during a 40-hour sequence of the Jovian ring on December 11, 2000. Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona |
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High Resolution Globe of Jup
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This true-color simulated vi
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12/30/00
| Date |
12/30/00 |
| Description |
This true-color simulated view of Jupiter is composed of 4 images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on December 7, 2000. To illustrate what Jupiter would have looked like if the cameras had a field-of-view large enough to capture the entire planet, the cylindrical map was projected onto a globe. The resolution is about 144 kilometers (89 miles) per pixel. Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona |
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Seeing the Invisible: Jupite
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This image taken on Dec. 28,
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12/30/00
| Date |
12/30/00 |
| Description |
This image taken on Dec. 28, 2000, by the ion and neutral camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes the huge magnetosphere surrounding Jupiter visible in a way no instrument on any previous spacecraft has been able to do. The magnetosphere is a bubble of charged particles trapped within the magnetic environment of the planet. This image shows it stretching across about 3 million kilometers (about 1.8 million miles) of space, or more than 12 times the diameter of Jupiter. Some of the fast-moving ions within the magnetosphere pick up electrons to become neutral atoms, and once they become neutral, they can escape Jupiter's magnetic field, flying out from the magnetosphere at speeds of thousands of kilometers or miles per second. Cassini's instrument for imaging the magnetosphere builds an image from these atoms reaching the spacecraft, analagous to the way a normal camera builds an image from photons. Some details of structure are visible within the magnetosphere, including the most intense emission region about 300,000 kilometers (about 200,000 miles) out from Jupiter, where material spewed from the volcanoes of Jupiter's moon Io form a torus, or doughnut-shaped ring, around the planet. Additional information about Cassini is available online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini . Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. |
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Cassini Ready to Roll
The newly assembled Cassini
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10/31/96
| Date |
10/31/96 |
| Description |
The newly assembled Cassini spacecraft, due for launch to Saturn in October 1997, is placed on a trailer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for transport to vibration and thermal test facilities at the Pasadena facility. Cassini will be subjected to weeks of "shake and bake" tests that imitate the forces and extreme temperatures the spacecraft will experience during launch and spaceflight. The project is a joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the program for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. |
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Installing Cassini's Thermal
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Technicians install the gold
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| Description |
Technicians install the gold-colored thermal blankets for NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which will be launched on a mission to the planet Saturn on Oct. 6, 1997. |
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Sewing Cassini's Thermal Bla
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Technicians Susan Ung and An
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1/3/97
| Date |
1/3/97 |
| Description |
Technicians Susan Ung and Andy Anderson cut and stitch the gold- colored thermal blankets for NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which will be launched on a mission to the planet Saturn on Oct. 6, 1997. |
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Eyeing Ganymede
Jupiter casts a baleful eye
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12/5/00
| Date |
12/5/00 |
| Description |
Jupiter casts a baleful eye toward the moon Ganymede in this enhanced-contrast image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Jupiter's `eye', the Great Red Spot, was captured just before disappearing around the eastern edge of the planet. The furrowed eyebrow above and to the left of the spot is a turbulent wake region caused by westward flow that has been deflected to the north and around the Red Spot. The smallest features visible are about 240 kilometers (150 miles) across. Within the band south of the Red Spot are a trio of white ovals, high pressure counterclockwise-rotating regions that are dynamically similar to the Red Spot. The dark filamentary features interspersed between white ovals are probably cyclonic circulations and, unlike the ovals, are rotating clockwise. Jupiter's equatorial zone stretching across the planet north of the Spot appears bright white, with gigantic plume clouds spreading out from the equator both to the northeast and to the southeast in a chevron pattern. This zone looks distinctly different than it did during the Voyager flyby 21 years ago. Then, its color was predominantly brown and the only white plumes conspicuous against the darker material beneath them were oriented southwest-to-northeast. Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon, about 50 percent larger than our own Moon and larger than the planet Mercury. The visible details in this image are different geological terrains. Dark areas tend to be older and heavily cratered, brighter areas are younger and less cratered. Cassini images of Ganymede and Jupiter's other large moons taken near closest approach on Dec. 30 will have resolutions about four times better than that seen here. This image is a color composite of ones taken with different filters by Cassini's narrow-angle camera on Nov. 18, 2000, processed to enhance contrast. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Cassini Spacecraft Fully Ass
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The fully assembled Cassini
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2/20/97
| Date |
2/20/97 |
| Description |
The fully assembled Cassini spacecraft as it appeared Feb. 14, 1997 in JPL's spacecraft assembly facility in Pasadena, CA. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch on its mission to Saturn on Oct. 6, 1997 from Cape Canaveral, FL. Having successfully completed testing in JPL's space simulator, the spacecraft is now undergoing a final round of systems testing prior to shipment this spring to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch preparations. Cassini's mission is to orbit Saturn for four years and study the planet, its rings and moons in detail. The large moon Titan is a principal target for exploration, and Cassini will carry the Huygens probe, seen here mounted on the side of the spacecraft (at left), to be released to enter Titan's thick atmosphere and descend to the surface via parachute. The Huygens probe is provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the radio antenna at top was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The Cassini mission is a joint endeavor of NASA, ESA and ASI. JPL manages the Cassini program for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### |
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Himalia, a Small Moon of Jup
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft ca
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1/23/01
| Date |
1/23/01 |
| Description |
NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured images of Himalia, the brightest of Jupiter's outer moons, on Dec. 19, 2000, from a distance of 4.4 million kilometers (2.7 million miles). This near-infrared image, with a resolution of about 27 kilometers (17 miles) per pixel, indicates that the side of Himalia facing the spacecraft is roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) in the up-down direction. Himalia probably has a non- spherical shape. Scientists believe it is a body captured into orbit around Jupiter, most likely an irregularly shaped asteroid. In the main frame, an arrow indicates Himalia. North is up. The inset shows the little moon magnified by a factor of 10, plus a graphic indicating Himalia's size and the direction of lighting (with sunlight coming from the left). Cassini's pictures of Himalia were taken during a brief period when Cassini's attitude was stabilized by thrusters instead of by a steadier reaction- wheel system. No spacecraft or telescope had previously shown any of Jupiter's outer moons as more than a star-like single dot. Cassini 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 mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Jupiter's Magnetosphere
This image taken on Jan. 4 a
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1/29/01
| Date |
1/29/01 |
| Description |
This image taken on Jan. 4 and 5, 2001, by the ion and neutral mass spectrometer instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes the huge magnetosphere surrounding Jupiter visible in a way no instrument on any previous spacecraft has been able to do. The magnetosphere is a bubble of charged particles trapped within the magnetic environment of the planet. In this picture, a magnetic field is sketched over the image to place the energetic neutral atom emissions in perspective. This sketch extends in the horizontal plane to a width 30 times the radius of Jupiter. Also shown for scale and location are the disk of Jupiter (black circle) and the approximate position (yellow circles) of the doughnut-shaped torus created from material spewed out by volcanoes on Io, one of Jupiter's large moons. Some of the fast-moving ions within the magnetosphere pick up electrons to become neutral atoms, and once they become neutral, they can escape Jupiter's magnetic field, flying out from the magnetosphere at speeds of thousands of kilometers, or miles, per second. Cassini's instrument for imaging the magnetosphere builds an image from these atoms reaching the spacecraft, analagous to the way a normal camera builds an image from photons. Additional information about Cassini is available online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini . Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. |
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A Digital Video Disk (DVD) b
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8/21/97
| Date |
8/21/97 |
| Description |
A Digital Video Disk (DVD) bearing 616,400 digitized signatures of people from nations around the world has been attached to the Cassini spacecraft and will soon be on its way to Saturn. The disk cover, designed by Cassini science and engineering manager Charley Kohlhase, shows the flags from 28 of the 81 nations whose citizens sent signatures for the chance to send their names into space. The planet Saturn with its rings and its moon Titan and the Earth are also represented, as is the Cassini spacecraft and its Huygens probe. The feathers represent the Golden Eagle, whose feathers were used as quills for writing to spread wisdom. The bird is revered in mythology for carrying spirits above the Earth to the heavens. The flags, going clockwise from the American flag top center, are in order of the number of signatures collected, with the highest number from the United States. The disk is fitted into a shallow cavity between two pieces of aluminum that will protect it from micrometeoroid impacts. The package will be mounted to the side of the 2-story- tall spacecraft beneath a pallet carrying cameras and other science instruments that will be used to study the Saturnian system. A specially designed, multicolored patch of thermal blanket material will be installed over the disk package. Along with the spacecraft, the disk will reside in Saturn's orbit centuries after the primary mission is completed in July 2008. The Cassini mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C., by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology. ##### |
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Cape Canaveral, FL
This radar images shows the
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10/9/97
| Date |
10/9/97 |
| Description |
This radar images shows the east coast of central Florida, including the Cape Canaveral area. The Indian River, Banana River and the Atlantic Ocean are the three bodies of water (shown in deep blue) from the lower left to the upper right of this false color image. Parts of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and the Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS) are visible. KSC occupies much of Merritt Island in the center of the image, as well as, the northern part of Cape Canaveral along the right side of the image. The light blue areas on Cape Canaveral are the launch pads used by NASA and the Air Force. The two pads in the upper left of the image (light blue hexagons with bright yellow areas in the middle) are Launch Complex 39 pads A and B, originally designed for the Apollo program and now used by the space shuttle. The other launch pads that dot the coastline are part of the CCAS and are used to launch robotic spacecraft, like the Cassini mission to Saturn which is scheduled to launch Oct. 13, 1997 and which also carries an imaging radar system. Two runways also appear as dark lines in the image. The runway in the upper left is part of the space shuttle landing facility and it is one of the longest runways in the world at 4,572 meters (15,000 feet) long and 91.4 meters (300 feet) wide. This image is centered at 28.5 degree North latitude, 80.63 degrees West longitude. The area shown is approximately 23 kilometers by 33 kilometers (14 miles by 20.5 miles). North is toward the upper left. Colors are assigned to different frequencies and polarizations of the radar as follows: red is L-band vertically transmitted and received, green is C-band vertically transmitted and received, and blue is the difference of L-band and C-band. This image was acquired by the Spaceborne Imaging-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar when it flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour on Oct. 4, 1994. SIR-C/X-SAR is a joint mission of the U.S./German and Italian space agencies. ##### |
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Galileo and Cassini Image: T
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Two Giant Plumes on Io ,Two
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3/29/01
| Date |
3/29/01 |
| Description |
Two Giant Plumes on Io ,Two tall volcanic plumes and the rings of red material they have deposited onto surrounding surface areas appear in images taken of Jupiter's moon Io by NASA's Galileo and Cassini spacecraft in late December 2000 and early January 2001. One plume, from the volcano Pele, shoots upward nearly 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the surface near Io's equator. The plume has been active for at least four years and, until now, had been far larger than any other plume seen on Io. The images also show a second plume about the same size, closer to Io's north pole. This plume had never been seen before. It is associated with a fresh eruption from the Tvashtar Catena volcanic area. The observations were made during joint studies of the Jupiter system while Cassini was passing Jupiter on its way to Saturn. Galileo passed closer to Io for higher-resolution images, and Cassini acquired images at ultraviolet wavelengths, better for detecting active volcanic plumes. The Cassini ultraviolet images, upper right, reveal two gigantic, actively erupting plumes of gas and dust. Near the equator, just the top of Pele's plume is visible where it projects into sunlight. None of it would be illuminated if it were less than 240 kilometers (150 miles) high. These images indicate a total height for Pele of 390 kilometers (242 miles). The Cassini image at far right shows a bright spot over Pele's vent. Although the Pele hot spot has a high temperature, silicate lava cannot be hot enough to explain a bright spot in the ultraviolet, so the origin of this bright spot is a mystery, but it may indicate that Pele was unusually active when the picture was taken. Also visible is a plume near Io's north pole. Although 15 active plumes over Io's equatorial regions have been detected in hundreds of images from NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, this is the first image ever acquired of an active plume over a polar region of Io. The plume projects about 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) over the limb, the edge of the globe. If it were erupting from a point on the limb, it would be only slightly larger than a typical Ionian plume, but the image does not reveal whether the source is actually at the limb or beyond it, out of view. A distinctive feature in Galileo images since 1997 has been a giant red ring of Pele plume deposits about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) in diameter. The Pele ring is seen again in one of the new Galileo images, lower left. When the new Galileo images were returned this month, scientists were astonished to see a second giant red ring on Io, centered around Tvashtar Catena at 63 degrees north latitude. (To see a comparison from before the ring was deposited, see images PIA-01604 or PIA-02309.) Tvashtar was the site of an active curtain of high-temperature silicate lava imaged by Galileo in November 1999 and February 2000 (image PIA- 02584). The new ring shows that Tvashtar must be the vent for the north polar plume imaged by Cassini from the other side of Io. This means the plume is actually about 385 kilometers (239 miles) high, just like Pele. The uncertainty in estimating the height is about 30 kilometers (19 miles), so the plume could be anywhere from 355 to 415 kilometers (221 to 259 miles) high. If this new plume deposit is just one millimeter (four one- hundredths of an inch) thick, then the eruption produced more ash than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. NASA recently approved a third extension of the Galileo mission, including a pass over Io's north pole in August 2001. The spacecraft's trajectory will pass directly over Tvashtar at an altitude of 200 kilometers (124 miles). Will Galileo fly through an active plume? That depends on whether this eruption is long- lived like Pele or brief, and it also depends on how high the plume is next August. Two Pele-sized plumes are inferred to have erupted in 1979 during the four months between Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys, as indicated by new Pele-sized rings in Voyager 2 images. Those eruptions, both from high-latitude locations, were shorter-lived than Pele, but their actual durations are unknown. In May, Galileo will get another, more distant look at Tvashtar. It has been said that Io is the heartbeat of the jovian magnetosphere. The two giant plumes evidenced in these images may have had significant effects on the types, density and distribution of neutral and charged particles in the Jupiter system during the joint observations of the system by Galileo and Cassini from November 2000 to March 2001. These Cassini images were acquired on Jan. 2, 2001, except for the frame at the far right, which was acquired a day earlier. The Galileo images were acquired on Dec. 30 and 31, 2000. Cassini was about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from Io, 10 times farther than Galileo. More information about the Cassini and Galileo joint observations of the Jupiter system is available online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby . Cassini 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 Galileo and Cassini missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. |
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