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Blasted Mimas
| Description |
Blasted Mimas |
| Full Description |
Mimas plows along in its orbit, its pockmarked surface in crisp relief. The bright, steep walls of the enormous crater, Herschel (130 kilometers, or 80 miles wide), gleam in the sunlight. The lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemisphere of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across). North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 80 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 11, 2006 |
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Duotone Moon
| Description |
Duotone Moon |
| Full Description |
The many impact scars borne by Iapetus are made far more conspicuous in the region of transition from its dark hemisphere to its bright one. In this terrain, the dark material that coats Cassini Regio accentuates slopes and crater floors, creating a land of stark contrasts. North on Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across) is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 6, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun- Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 26 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 25, 2006 |
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Crater Studies on Titan
| Description |
Crater Studies on Titan |
| Full Description |
This image from Cassini's radar instrument shows an impact crater with a diameter of 30 kilometers (19 miles) on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. Cassini data have only revealed three definite impact craters on Titan so far, so each new discovery adds significantly to our body of knowledge. Impact craters are particularly important, as their shapes give scientists insight into the structure of the crust beneath Titan's surface. The difference in overall appearance between this crater, which has a central peak, and those without, such as Sinlap, (See Impact Crater with Ejecta Blanket), indicates variations in the conditions of impact, thickness of the crust, or properties of the meteorite that made the crater. The dark floor indicates smooth or highly absorbing materials. This image was acquired by the Cassini radar instrument in synthetic aperture mode during a Sept. 7, 2006, flyby of Titan. The image is centered at 70 degrees west longitude, 10 degrees north latitude, and measures about 150 kilometers high by 190 kilometers wide (93 by 118 miles). The smallest details in this image are about 500 meters (about 550 yards) across. 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. The Cassini orbiter 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. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
September 12, 2006 |
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Transition on Tethys
| Description |
Transition on Tethys |
| Full Description |
An extreme false-color view of Tethys reveals a surface detail not visible in a monochrome view taken at the same time. The false-color view shows a color transition from the moon's Saturn-facing side (at left) to a region its trailing side (at bottom). Near the top of the images, the central-peaked crater Telemachus lies in the deeply grooved terrain that marks the northern reaches of Ithaca Chasma. To create the false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superposed over a clear-filter image that preserves the relative brightness across the body. The combination of color map and brightness image shows how colors vary across Tethys' surface. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy surface material. The monochrome image was taken using a clear filter. North on Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is up and rotated 36 degrees to the right. The images used to create this view were acquired using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 52 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (4,332 feet) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 10, 2006 |
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Enigma in Ice
| Description |
Enigma in Ice |
| Full Description |
Cassini spies the wrinkled, fractured and remarkably crater-poor terrain of Enceladus. Scientists are working to understand what causes the moon's surprising geologic activity (see Fountains of Enceladus). North on Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across) is up and rotated 20 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 8, 2006 at a distance of approximately 560,000 kilometers (348,000 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun- Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 28, 2006 |
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Target: Tethys
| Description |
Target: Tethys |
| Full Description |
Tethys has a crater-saturated surface, where older, larger basins have been completely overprinted by newer, smaller impacts. This state is what scientists expect to see on a very old surface, where small impactors have struck more frequently than larger ones over several billion years. Larger impacts were more common events in the early history of the solar system. This view looks toward the leading hemisphere of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up. The great scar of Ithaca Chasma is seen at right. The view was captured in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 449,000 kilometers (279,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 49 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 19, 2006 |
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Titan's Geological Goldmine
…
| Description |
Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn. |
| Full Description |
Cassini's powerful radar eyes have uncovered a geologic goldmine in a region called Xanadu on Saturn's moon Titan. Panning west to east, the geologic features include river channels, mountains and hills, a crater and possible lakes. The movie shows the location mapped with the Cassini Radar Mapper using its Synthetic Aperture Radar imaging mode on April 30, 2006. The global map shows the areas mapped so far by radar. The radar swaths are superimposed on a false-color image made from observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Cassini's radar has revealed a variety of geologic features, including impact craters, wind-blown deposits, channels and cryovolcanic features. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. Credit: NASA/JPL |
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Cratered Crescent
| Description |
Cratered Crescent |
| Full Description |
The Cassini spacecraft surveys the ancient, craggy surface of Tethys, sighting the crater Telemachus with its prominent central peak. The view is toward the north pole of Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). Lit terrain seen here is on the moon's Saturn-facing side. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 29, 2006 at a distance of approximately 641,000 kilometers (398,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111 degrees. Image scale is 4 kilometers (2 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
November 29, 2006 |
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Infrared and Radar Views of
…
| Description |
This image composite contains a radar image taken during a February 2005 (T3) flyby, and overlaid are images from the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken on Sept. 7, 2006, (T17) and Oct. 25, 2006 (T20). |
| Full Description |
This image composite contains a radar image taken during a February 2005 (T3) flyby, and overlaid are images from the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken on Sept. 7, 2006, (T17) and Oct. 25, 2006 (T20). The thin strip is the infrared image taken on the inbound leg of the T20 flyby and crosses the radar image near an area with a small, crater-like feature. In the radar image a faint fan of material seems to originate at the crater, and the portion of the infrared image that crosses the faint fan shows both a large brightness contrast and very sharp boundaries. The fan-like deposit has such sharp boundaries and strong contrast with its surroundings that it supports the idea that the deposit seen in the radar images is a flow of material erupted from the small crater. This may be the strongest evidence yet of cryovolcanism on Titan. The infrared image was taken at a distance of 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from the surface of Titan and resolves features as small as 400 meters (1,300 feet). The infrared images were taken at wavelengths of 1.3 microns shown in blue, 2 microns shown in green, and 5 microns shown in red. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona where this image was produced. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm . The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
December 12, 2006 |
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Helene
| Description |
Helene |
| Full Description |
Cassini came close to Saturn's small moon Helene on Feb. 25, 2006, acquiring this high-resolution view. This object seems to be buried in its own crater debris, like another Saturnian moon, Telesto. Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) orbits 60 degrees ahead of Dione in the larger moon's orbit, making it a "trojan" moon of Dione. Trojan moons are named for the Trojan group of asteroids that orbit 60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter as it circles the sun. This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 68,000 kilometers (42,000 miles) from Helene and at a sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 99 degrees. Image scale is 406 meters (1,334 feet) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
December 29, 2006 |
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Titan (T16) Viewed by Cassin
…
| Description |
Titan (T16) Viewed by Cassini's Radar July 22, 2006 |
| Full Description |
This radar image shows the entire scene in which hydrocarbon lakes were first discovered on Titan, near its north pole (see Lakes on Titan). This image was acquired on July 22, 2006, by Cassini's radar instrument in synthetic aperture mode. The most striking landforms are the lakes: dark patches, some circular, some irregular, many with apparently steep rims, over much of the terrain north of 70 degrees latitude. The most convincing lake forms occur at the narrowest, central part of the scene, which is at the highest latitudes. Here they have short, stubby channels leading into them, and brighter areas within that indicate either dried-up lakes or that we are seeing through a transparent liquid. The image also shows the considerable variation in the kinds of surface features found at different latitudes. Beginning at the left (20 degrees north by 142 degrees west) and heading north, a circular feature about 75 kilometers (47 miles) in diameter is seen, which could be either an impact crater or a volcanic caldera. Other less distinct circular forms are seen next, possibly including some dried lakes, followed by some ridge-like terrain with dark meandering channels or valleys. The dark lakes begin to appear next (at about 70 degrees north), with more distinct lakes in the middle of the scene, where the swath is closest to the pole and starts to descend to the south. Farther on, apparently dry lakes and canyons begin to dominate, and the region becomes more complex and etched. At the extreme right end, dunes similar to those seen previously mingle with brighter features. The swath ends at 13 degrees north by 347 degrees west. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. *Credit:* NASA/JPL |
| Date |
January 11, 2007 |
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Titan 'T28' Mosaic
| Description |
Titan 'T28' Mosaic |
| Full Description |
Bright and dark terrains on Titan's trailing hemisphere are revealed by Cassini's Imaging Science Subsystem in this mosaic of images taken during the T28 flyby in April 2007. The region shown in this image, centered on the northern part of Titan's trailing hemisphere (near 31.2 degrees North, 220.7 degrees West), had only been seen at very low resolution until February 2007, when Cassini flew over this area for the first time. This mosaic consists of images taken during one of a series of flybys in early 2007 designed to study this long unavailable part of Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across). Several intriguing surface features can be seen in this mosaic that warrant further study. Along the top of the mosaic is a series of dark lineaments, or linear features, that stand out against the blandness of the northern, mid-latitude terrain. These features were also observed by the RADAR instrument in December 2006 and represent an area of potential future co-analysis for the RADAR and camera teams. Another such region is the large bright area known as Adiri at bottom center, also imaged by RADAR in October 2005. The mosaic shows a number of dark areas within Adiri that line up with small dune fields observed by RADAR. A portion of the dark terrain surrounding Adiri was also observed in 2005 by RADAR, and likewise was found to consist of large stretches of longitudinal dune fields --further supporting the correlation between equatorial dark regions and dune "seas." To the east of Adiri is a dark spot surrounded by a ring of bright material, which may be associated with an impact crater similar to Sinlap, discovered earlier in the Cassini mission (see Titan Mosaic - East of Xanadu). This mosaic consists of 29 separate frames using a total of 116 images. Each frame consists of three images, taken using a filter sensitive to near-infrared light centered at 938 nanometers, allowing for observations of Titan's surface and lower atmosphere, added together. An image taken using a filter sensitive to visible light centered at 619 nanometers was then subtracted from the product, effectively removing the lower atmosphere contribution to the brightness values in the image, increasing image contrast and improving the visibility of surface features. This process is also intended to reduce noise, but some camera artifacts still remain, such as a dark ring caused by dust in the camera system near the bottom right of each frame. For a wide angle view taken during this Titan encounter, see Titan 'T28' View. The images used for this mosaic were taken on April 11, 2007 from distances ranging from 106,000 to 180,000 kilometers (66,000 to 112,000 miles). This mosaic is in an orthographic projection with a pixel scale of 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) per pixel, although the size of resolvable features is likely several times larger, due to atmospheric scattering. An orthographic view is most like the view seen by a distant observer looking through a, telescope. 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. The Cassini orbiter 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. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
May 22, 2007 |
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Red Spot on Titan
| Description |
Image of an unusual bright, red spot on Titan |
| Full Description |
The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer instrument onboard Cassini has found an unusual bright, red spot on Titan. This dramatic color (but not true color) image was taken during the April 16, 2005, encounter with Titan. North is to the right. In the center it shows the dark lanes of the "H"-shaped feature (see Titan's surface revealed) discovered from Earth and first seen by Cassini last July shortly after it arrived in the Saturn system. At the southwestern edge of the "H" feature, near Titan's limb (edge), is an area roughly 500 kilometers (300 miles) across. That area is 50 percent brighter, when viewed using light with a wavelength of 5 microns, than the bright continent-sized area known as Xanadu (see Eyes on Xanadu). Xanadu extends to the northwest of the bright spot, beyond the limb (edge) of Titan in this image. Near the terminator (the line between day and night) at the bottom of this image is the 80 kilometer (50 mile) crater that has been previously seen by the Cassini radar, imaging cameras, and the visual and infrared spectrometer (see Titan Crater in Three Views). At wavelengths shorter than 5 microns, the spot is not unusually bright. The strange spectral character of this enigmatic feature has left the team with four possibilities for its source: the spot could be a surface coloration, a mountain range, a cloud, or a hot spot. The hot spot hypothesis will be tested during a Titan flyby on July 2, 2006, when the visual and infrared spectrometer will take nighttime images of this area. If it is hot, it will glow at night. This color image was created from separate images in the 1.7 micron (blue), 2.0 micron (green), and 5.0 micron (red) spectral windows through which it is possible to see Titan's surface. The yellow that humans see has a wavelength of about 0.5 microns, so the colors shown are between 3 and 10 times more red than the human eye can detect. 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. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For additional information on the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . Credit:NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
May 25, 2005 |
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Pulverized Pulchritude (Enha
…
| Description |
This close view of Rhea prominently shows two large impact basins on the ancient and battered moon. |
| Full Description |
This close view of Rhea prominently shows two large impact basins on the ancient and battered moon. The great age of these basins is suggested by the large number of smaller craters that are overprinted within them. Ejecta from the bright, relatively young crater seen in Crater Contrast spreads from the eastern limb. Terrain visible in this view is on the side of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) that faces away from Saturn. North on Rhea is up and tilted 30 degrees to the left. See Pulverized Pulchritude (Monochrome) for a similar monochrome view. This enhanced color view was created by combining images taken using filters sensitive to ultraviolet, visible green and infrared light. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 23, 2005, at a distance of approximately 341,000 kilometers (212,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 42 degrees. The image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
January 26, 2006 |
|
Pulverized Pulchritude (Mono
…
| Description |
This close view of Rhea prominently shows two large impact basins on the ancient and battered moon. |
| Full Description |
This close view of Rhea prominently shows two large impact basins on the ancient and battered moon. The great age of these basins is suggested by the large number of smaller craters that are overprinted within them. Ejecta from the bright, relatively young crater seen in Crater Contrast spreads from the eastern limb. Terrain visible in this view is on the side of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) that faces away from Saturn. North on Rhea is up and tilted 30 degrees to the left. See Pulverized Pulchritude (Enhanced Color) for a similar enhanced color view. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 23, 2005 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The image was acquired at a distance of approximately 341,000 kilometers (212,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 42 degrees. The image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
January 26, 2006 |
|
An Infrared Map of Titan
| Description |
This global infrared map of Titan was composed with data from Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken during the last two Titan flybys, on Dec. 26, 2005, and Jan. 15, 2006. |
| Full Description |
This global infrared map of Titan was composed with data from Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken during the last two Titan flybys, on Dec. 26, 2005, and Jan. 15, 2006. The map was constructed from false-color images taken at wavelengths of 1.6 microns shown in blue, 2.01 microns in green, and 5 microns in red. All three images are of reflected sunlight. The viewing geometry of the December flyby is roughly on the opposite hemisphere of the flyby in January. There are several important features to note in the map. First, the globe of Titan exhibits two major types of terrain, one is very bright, and a darker one seems to be concentrated near the equator. Titan also has two very bright regions, the large one known as Tui Reggio, located at approximately 25 degrees south latitude and 130 degrees west longitude, and the other as Hotei Arcus, at 20 degrees south latitude and 80 degrees west longitude. These regions are thought to be surface deposits, probably of volcanic origin, and may be water and/or carbon dioxide frozen from the volcanic vapor. The western margins of Tui Reggio have a complex flow-like structure consistent with eruptive phenomena. The reddish feature at the south pole is Titan's south polar cloud system, which was very bright during the December flyby. The impact crater Sinlap is clearly visible at approximately latitude 13 degrees north and longitude 16 degrees west. The poorly resolved regions between longitudes of 30 degrees and 150 degrees east will be filled in during subsequent flybys. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. *Credit:* NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
February 10, 2006 |
|
Cratered Iceball
| Description |
Scarred and battered Rhea fills the Cassini spacecraft's view. Notable here is the sharp relief of steep crater walls near the terminator. |
| Full Description |
Scarred and battered Rhea fills the Cassini spacecraft's view. Notable here is the sharp relief of steep crater walls near the terminator. Icy Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is Saturn's second-largest moon. This view shows terrain on Rhea's trailing hemisphere. North is up and rotated 22 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 24, 2005 at a distance of approximately 267,000 kilometers (166,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 59 degrees. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
January 30, 2006 |
|
Titan Smiles Back
| Description |
This infrared view shows features on the leading hemisphere of Titan, including the bright, crescent-shaped Hotei arcus (right of center), which is also informally called |
| Full Description |
This infrared view shows features on the leading hemisphere of Titan, including the bright, crescent-shaped Hotei arcus (right of center), which is also informally called "the Smile" by researchers. The view is centered on the bright region called Xanadu. Above center is the large crater Menrva, which is surrounded by darker material. North on Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is up and rotated 30 degrees to the left. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 13, 2006 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The image was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 41 degrees. Image scale is 7 kilometers (5 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
February 21, 2006 |
|
To the Relief of Iapetus
| Description |
Sunlight strikes the terminator (the boundary between day and night) region on Saturn's moon Iapetus at nearly horizontal angles, making visible the vertical relief of many features. |
| Full Description |
Sunlight strikes the terminator (the boundary between day and night) region on Saturn's moon Iapetus at nearly horizontal angles, making visible the vertical relief of many features. This view is centered on terrain in the southern hemisphere of Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across). Lit terrain visible here is on the moon's leading hemisphere. In this image, a large, central-peaked crater is notable at the boundary between the dark material in Cassini Regio and the brighter material on the trailing hemisphere. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 22, 2006, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Resolution in the original image was 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility. 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. The Cassini orbiter 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. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
March 2, 2006 |
|
Tethys and Titan
| Description |
Cassini looks toward Tethys and its great crater Odysseus, while at the same time capturing veiled Titan in the distance (at left). |
| Full Description |
Cassini looks toward Tethys and its great crater Odysseus, while at the same time capturing veiled Titan in the distance (at left). Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is shrouded in a thick, smog-like atmosphere in which many small, potential impactors burn up before hitting the moon's surface. Crater-pocked Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) has no such protective layer, although even a thick blanket of atmosphere would have done little good against the impactor that created Odysseus. The eastern limb of Tethys is overexposed in this view. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 6, 2006, at a distance of approximately 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Titan and 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Tethys. The image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Titan and 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Tethys. 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. The Cassini orbiter 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. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
February 17, 2006 |
|
| Description |
Radar Images Shikoku -- |
| Full Description |
This image of Saturn's moon Titan from the Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument on the Cassini spacecraft shows Shikoku Facula, a region that is bright in both radar and visible wavelengths. This radar image was taken on April 30, 2006. For a visible-light image of Shikoku Facula see Naming New Lands . A circular feature with a radar-dark interior, probably an impact crater, is seen near the top of the image and is about 35 kilometers (22 miles) in diameter. Numerous linear dark features are seen running across the image, mostly on the right-hand side. These features were seen on other radar images (see Radar Images the Margin of Xanadu and Dunes Galore) and interpreted as dune fields. Bright, ridge-like features mainly on the lower half of the image may be topographically high regions. Radar-dark, thin, sinuous features, which may be channels draining from the bright to the dark regions, are seen below the circular feature. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
May 3, 2006 |
|
From Cloudy to Clear
| Description |
During a recent flyby of Titan, the Cassini spacecraft looked beyond the utterly overcast moon and spied clear, distant Rhea in the blackness. |
| Full Description |
During a recent flyby of Titan, the Cassini spacecraft looked beyond the utterly overcast moon and spied clear, distant Rhea in the blackness. Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is two-and-a-half times smaller than Earth and much less massive. This circumstance causes its atmosphere to extend to much higher altitudes above the surface than does Earth's. The Cassini spacecraft is unable to fly much closer than about 1000 kilometers (600 miles) above Titan's surface -- much closer, and the spacecraft would experience excessive torques from the atmosphere that could interfere with its ability to track the target. By contrast, the International Space Station orbits Earth at an altitude of about 350 kilometers (220 miles). The bright, fresh crater on Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) appears near the center of the moon's crescent. The image was taken in visible-light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on May 20, 2006, at a distance of approximately 53,000 kilometers (33,000 miles) from Titan and 873,000 kilometers (543,000 miles) from Rhea. Image scale is 320 meters (1,050 feet) per pixel on Titan and 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel on Rhea. 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. The Cassini orbiter 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. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
June 21, 2006 |
|
Rhea Beyond the Rings
| Description |
Rhea Beyond the Rings |
| Full Description |
Crater-scarred Rhea floats in the distance, peeking out from behind Saturn's partly shadowed rings. This view looks upward from just beneath the ringplane. The far side of the rings is masked by Saturn's shadow. The north pole of Rhea is obscured by part of the A ring and the sharply defined F ring. A few bright wispy markings curl around the eastern limb of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 22, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Rhea. The image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel on Rhea. 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. The Cassini orbiter 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. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . |
| Date |
March 31, 2006 |
|
Titan's Geological Goldmine
| Description |
Titan's Geological Goldmine |
| Full Description |
Cassini's powerful radar eyes have uncovered a geologic goldmine in a region called Xanadu on Saturn's moon Titan. Panning west to east, the geologic features include river channels, mountains and hills, a crater and possible lakes. + View Video Details |
| Date |
July 19, 2006 |
|
Penelope Crater
| Description |
Penelope Crater |
| Full Description |
This dramatic close-up of Tethys shows the large crater Penelope lying near center, overprinted by many smaller, younger impact sites. Three smaller impact features of roughly similar size make a line left of Penelope that runs north-south: (from bottom) Ajax, Polyphemus and Phemius. Features on Tethys are named for characters and places from "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." The largest impact structure on Tethys is named Odysseus. (See The Great Basin for a stunning close-up of Odysseus.) The view is toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere on Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across). North is up. The image was taken in polarized ultraviolet light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 165,000 kilometers (103,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 23 degrees. Image scale is 984 meters (3,227 feet) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
April 4, 2006 |
|
Toward Melanthius
| Description |
Toward Melanthius |
| Full Description |
Cassini looks into the 245-kilometer (150-mile) wide crater Melanthius in this view of the southern terrain on Tethys. The crater possesses a prominent cluster of peaks in its center which are relics of its formation. Notable here is a distinct boundary in crater abundance -- the cratering density is much higher in the farthest western terrain (left side of the image) than elsewhere. North on Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is up and rotated 45 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 23, 2006 at a distance of approximately 120,000 kilometers (75,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 29 degrees. Image scale is 715 meters (2,345 feet) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 29, 2006 |
|
Positive ID
| Description |
Positive ID |
| Full Description |
The great basin that interrupts the contours of this moon's crescent identifies the satellite unmistakably as Mimas. The giant crater Herschel (130 kilometers, or 80 miles wide) is this moon's most obvious feature. North on Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is up and rotated 23 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 8, 2006 at a distance of approximately 534,000 kilometers (331,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 115 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 2, 2006 |
|
Revisiting the Splat
| Description |
Revisiting the Splat |
| Full Description |
Rhea shows off her bright, fresh-looking impact crater in this Cassini view taken during a close approach. For a high-resolution view of this crater, taken during a much closer encounter, see Catch That Crater. The view is toward the leading hemisphere on Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 24, 2006 at a distance of approximately 343,000 kilometers (213,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 27 degrees. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
April 21, 2006 |
|
Impact craters on Xanadu
| Description |
Impact craters on Xanadu |
| Full Description |
This image from the Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument on the Cassini spacecraft shows the radar-bright region Xanadu and two circular features interpreted to be degraded impact craters. In radar images, bright regions indicate a rough or scattering material, while a dark region might be smoother or more absorbing. The image was acquired during a flyby of Titan on April 30, 2006. Near the top of the image is a 70-kilometer-wide (47-mile-wide) impact structure. In contrast to a similarly sized crater called Sinlap (see Impact Crater with Ejecta Blanket), this crater shows a prominent central peak, indicating that the interaction between the impact and the crust was different in this region. Near the bottom of the image is another circular feature with a dark central region that does not show evidence of a central peak. Numerous radar-bright channels cut across the image, indicating that liquids have flowed in this region. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . Credit: Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
May 5, 2006 |
|
Radar Images the Margin of X
…
| Description |
Radar Images the Margin of Xanadu |
| Full Description |
This image of Saturn's moon Titan from the Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument on the Cassini spacecraft shows the southwestern area of a feature called Xanadu (bottom right of the image). The area is bright because it reflects the radio wavelengths used to make this radar images. The image was taken on April 30, 2006. Xanadu is one of the most prominent features on Titan and was first seen in ground-based observations. The origin of Xanadu is still unknown, but this radar image reveals details previously unseen, such as numerous curvy features that may indicate fluid flows. Linear dark streaks visible in radar-dark areas are dune fields, also seen in previous radar images (see Dunes Galore). Near the center of the image is a prominent circular feature, named Guabonito, about 90 kilometers (56 miles) in diameter. It might be an impact crater or a cryovolcanic caldera. If this is an impact structure, the absence of an ejecta blanket suggests that the feature has been highly eroded, like some impact structures on Earth, or has been buried by the dune fields. Other radar-bright areas (top left and top right) appear to be topographically high and might act as obstacles, diverting the dunes around them. 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. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the United States and several European countries. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
May 3, 2006 |
|
Sharp Focus on Mimas
| Description |
This amazing perspective view captures battered Mimas against the hazy limb of Saturn. |
| Full Description |
This amazing perspective view captures battered Mimas against the hazy limb of Saturn. It is obvious in such close-up images that Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) has been badly scarred by impacts over the eons. Its 130 kilometer- (80 mile-) wide crater, Herschel, lies in the darkness at right. North on Mimas is up and rotated 19 degrees to the right. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 21, 2006 using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 338 nanometers. The image was acquired at a distance of approximately 191,000 kilometers (119,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 91 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (3,730 feet) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
May 5, 2006 |
|
From Dark to Bright and Red
…
| Description |
Cassini's landmark investigation of Saturn's yin-yang moon Iapetus, with its bright and dark hemispheres, continues to provide insights into the nature of this intriguing body. |
| Full Description |
Cassini's landmark investigation of Saturn's yin-yang moon Iapetus, with its bright and dark hemispheres, continues to provide insights into the nature of this intriguing body. These two views of Iapetus primarily show terrain in the southern part of the moon's dark leading hemisphere -- the side of Iapetus that is coated with dark material. The bright south pole of Iapetus is visible, along with some terrain (at the bottom) that lies on the bright trailing hemisphere. The dark terrain known as Cassini Regio is uniformly dark between the equator and about 30 degrees south latitude. From there down to about 50 to 60 degrees south latitude, the dark material looks "patchy" because south-facing crater walls are bright (being largely devoid of the dark material). South of this region, only some northward-facing crater walls are still dark, while the bright terrain has a somewhat reddish color. See Dark-stained Iapetus for an up-close view of this transition in the northern hemisphere. Beyond 90 degrees south (i.e., on the trailing side), the reddish color becomes white. The region at the bottom of the color view presented here shows this "color boundary" in the bright terrain, which also marks the boundary between the leading and trailing hemispheres. Iapetus is 1,468 kilometers (912 miles) across. North is up in the monochrome image and rotated 16 degrees to the left in the color image. The monochrome image on the left was taken using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 8, 2006, at a distance of approximately 866,000 kilometers (538,000 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 88 degrees. The image scale is 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel. The color view on the right was created by combining images taken in ultraviolet, green and infrared spectral filters. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 9, 2006, at a distance of approximately 692,000 kilometers (430,000 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 101 degrees. The image scale is 4 kilometers (2.5 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
May 22, 2006 |
|
Bright Ice Below
| Description |
Bright Ice Below |
| Full Description |
Rhea's crater-saturated surface shows a large bright blotch, which was likely created when a geologically recent impact sprayed bright, fresh ice ejecta over the moon's surface. The rim of the great Tirawa impact basin can be seen near the top of the image. The giant feature is approximately 360 kilometers (220 miles) across. This equatorial view captures Rhea's leading hemisphere. North is up and rotated 40 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2006 at a distance of approximately 481,000 kilometers (299,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 23 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit:NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
May 31, 2006 |
|
Ragged Crescent
| Description |
Ragged Crescent |
| Full Description |
Rhea's devastated surface creates a jagged terminator as mountains and crater rims break-up the line between day and night. Terrain on Rhea's night side is dimly lit by reflected light from Saturn. The view looks toward the southern hemisphere on the moon's trailing side. North on Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across) is up. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 22, 2006 at a distance of approximately 263,000 kilometers (164,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 138 degrees. Image scale is 2 kilometers (about 1 mile) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
June 27, 2006 |
|
Sharp Focus on Mimas
| title |
Sharp Focus on Mimas |
| date |
03.21.2006 |
| description |
This amazing perspective view captures battered Mimas against the hazy limb of Saturn. It is obvious in such close-up images that Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) has been badly scarred by impacts over the eons. Its 130 kilometer- (80 mile-) wide crater, Herschel, lies in the darkness at right. North on Mimas is up and rotated 19 degrees to the right. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 21, 2006 using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 338 nanometers. The image was acquired at a distance of approximately 191,000 kilometers (119,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 91 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (3,730 feet) 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ] . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ] . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
|
From Dark to Bright and Red
…
| title |
From Dark to Bright and Red to White |
| date |
04.09.2006 |
| description |
Cassini's landmark investigation of Saturn's yin-yang moon Iapetus, with its bright and dark hemispheres, continues to provide insights into the nature of this intriguing body. These two views of Iapetus primarily show terrain in the southern part of the moon's dark leading hemisphere -- the side of Iapetus that is coated with dark material. The bright south pole of Iapetus is visible, along with some terrain (at the bottom) that lies on the bright trailing hemisphere. The dark terrain known as Cassini Regio is uniformly dark between the equator and about 30 degrees south latitude. From there down to about 50 to 60 degrees south latitude, the dark material looks "patchy" because south-facing crater walls are bright (being largely devoid of the dark material). South of this region, only some northward-facing crater walls are still dark, while the bright terrain has a somewhat reddish color. See Dark-stained Iapetus [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=1271 ] for an up-close view of this transition in the northern hemisphere. Beyond 90 degrees south (i.e., on the trailing side), the reddish color becomes white. The region at the bottom of the color view presented here shows this "color boundary" in the bright terrain, which also marks the boundary between the leading and trailing hemispheres. Iapetus is 1,468 kilometers (912 miles) across. North is up in the monochrome image and rotated 16 degrees to the left in the color image. The monochrome image on the left was taken using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 8, 2006, at a distance of approximately 866,000 kilometers (538,000 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 88 degrees. The image scale is 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel. The color view on the right was created by combining images taken in ultraviolet, green and infrared spectral filters. The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 9, 2006, at a distance of approximately 692,000 kilometers (430,000 miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 101 degrees. The image scale is 4 kilometers (2.5 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 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 operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ] . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org [, http://ciclops.org ] . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
|
'McMurdo' Panorama from Spir
…
| title |
'McMurdo' Panorama from Spirit's 'Winter Haven' |
| description |
This 360-degree view, called the "McMurdo" panorama, comes from the panoramic camera (Pancam) on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. From April through October 2006, Spirit has stayed on a small hill known as "Low Ridge." There, the rover's solar panels are tilted toward the sun to maintain enough solar power for Spirit to keep making scientific observations throughout the winter on southern Mars. This view of the surroundings from Spirit's "Winter Haven" is presented in approximately true color. Oct. 26, 2006, marks Spirit's 1,000th sol of what was planned as a 90-sol mission. (A sol is a Martian day, which lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes, 35 seconds). The rover has lived through the most challenging part of its second Martian winter. Its solar power levels are rising again. Spring in the southern hemisphere of Mars will begin in early 2007. Before that, the rover team hopes to start driving Spirit again toward scientifically interesting places in the "Inner Basin" and "Columbia Hills" inside Gusev crater. The McMurdo panorama is providing team members with key pieces of scientific and topographic information for choosing where to continue Spirit's exploration adventure. The Pancam began shooting component images of this panorama during Spirit's sol 814 (April 18, 2006) and completed the part shown here on sol 932 (Aug. 17, 2006). The panorama was acquired using all 13 of the Pancam's color filters, using lossless compression for the red and blue stereo filters, and only modest levels of compression on the remaining filters. The overall panorama consists of 1,449 Pancam images and represents a raw data volume of nearly 500 megabytes. It is thus the largest, highest-fidelity view of Mars acquired from either rover. Additional photo coverage of the parts of the rover deck not shown here was completed on sol 980 (Oct. 5 , 2006). The team is completing the processing and mosaicking of those final pieces of the panorama, and that image will be released on the Web shortly to augment this McMurdo panorama view. This beautiful scene reveals a tremendous amount of detail in Spirit's surroundings. Many dark, porous-textured volcanic rocks can be seen around the rover, including many on Low Ridge. Two rocks to the right of center, brighter and smoother-looking in this image and more reflective in infrared observations by Spirit's miniature thermal emission spectrometer, are thought to be meteorites. On the right, "Husband Hill" on the horizon, the rippled "El Dorado" sand dune field near the base of that hill, and lighter-toned "Home Plate" below the dunes provide context for Spirit's travels since mid-2005. Left of center, tracks and a trench dug by Spirit's right-front wheel, which no longer rotates, have exposed bright underlying material. This bright material is evidence of sulfur-rich salty minerals in the subsurface, which may provide clues about the watery past of this part of Gusev Crater. Spirit has stayed busy at Winter Haven during the past, six months even without driving. In addition to acquiring this spectacular panorama, the rover team has also acquired significant new assessments of the elemental chemistry and mineralogy of rocks and soil targets within reach of the rover's arm. The team plans soon to have Spirit drive to a very nearby spot on Low Ridge to access different rock and soil samples while maintaining a good solar panel tilt toward the sun for the rest of the Martian winter. Despite the long span of time needed for acquiring this 360-degree view -- a few images at a time every few sols over a total of 119 sols because the available power was so low -- the lighting and color remain remarkably uniform across the mosaic. This fact attests to the repeatability of wintertime sols on Mars in the southern hemisphere. |
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Getting a Sense of Scale
| title |
Getting a Sense of Scale |
| date |
10.06.2006 |
| description |
This photo composite shows an aerial view of FedEx Field in Landover, Md., home of the Washington Redskins, superimposed on Mars' Victoria Crater to give a sense of the crater's scale. Image Credit: FedEx Field: Screenshot (c) Google Inc. and reproduced with permission. Victoria Crater: NASA/JPL/UA |
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Victoria Crater' at Meridian
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| title |
Victoria Crater' at Meridiani Planum |
| date |
10.06.2006 |
| description |
This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows "Victoria crater," an impact crater at Meridiani Planum, near the equator of Mars. The crater is approximately 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. It has a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. The floor of the crater is occupied by a striking field of sand dunes. Since January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been operating at Meridiani Planum. Five days before this image was taken, Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria crater, after a drive of more than 9 kilometers (over 5 miles). The rover can be seen in this image, at roughly the "ten o'clock" position along the rim of the crater. This view is a portion of an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Oct. 3, 2006. The complete image is centered at minus7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. This is an enhanced-color view generated from images acquired by the HiRISE camera using its red filter and blue-green filter. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mroor http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UA |
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Gullies in Sirenum Terra, Ma
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| title |
Gullies in Sirenum Terra, Mars |
| date |
10.03.2006 |
| description |
This enhanced-color view shows gullies in an unnamed crater in the Terra Sirenum region of Mars. It is a sub-image from a larger view imaged by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Oct. 3, 2006. This scene is about 254 meters (about 830 feet) wide. The upper and left regions of this scene are in shadow, yet color variations are still apparent. The high signal to noise ratio of the HiRISE camera allows for colors to be distinguished in shadows. This allows dark features to be identified as true albedo features versus topographical features. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona |
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Hubble Images of Asteroids H
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| Title |
Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit |
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ACD06-0155-003
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - Spectrometer on shake table |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-004
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - Spectrometer on shake table |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-007
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Lynn Hofland |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-010
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Lynn Hofland |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-012
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Lynn Hofland |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-017
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Lynn Hofland, Ames EEL lab) and Kimberly Ennico, LCROSS payload scientist |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-019
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Lynn Hofland, Ames EEL lab) and Kimberly Ennico, LCROSS payload scientist |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-022
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Anthony Colaprete, Ames code SST |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
|
ACD06-0155-024
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observa
…
8/31/06
| Description |
LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation Sensing Satellite) Near InfraRed Spectrometer shake test in Ames N-244 high bay EEL Lab - with Kimberly Ennico and Anthony Colaprete |
| Date |
8/31/06 |
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