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Dawn of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Washington, D.C.
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Io Above Clouds on New Year'
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The moon Io floats above the
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1/23/01
| Date |
1/23/01 |
| Description |
The moon Io floats above the cloudtops of Jupiter in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on the dawn of the new millennium, Jan. 1, 2001, two days after Cassini's closest approach to Jupiter. The image is deceiving: There is room for two and a half Jupiters between Io and Jupiter's clouds. Io is the size of our Moon. 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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Neutral Gas Cloud Around Tit
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| 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 |
Images from the magnetospheric imaging instrument and the ion and neutral camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal aspects of the interactions between Saturn's dynamic population of hot energetic ions and the clouds of cold neutral atoms. Future observations may further explain the relationships between these interactions. The most recent image of Titan reveals the emission of high-speed neutral atoms from a globular region approximately 70,000 kilometers (43,496 miles) in diameter, clearly centered on Titan. It is only 1/25 as bright as the region seen toward dawn during Saturn orbit insertion, even though Cassini is now closer to Titan. There is an extended emission region around the Titan cloud, but it is much dimmer than the Titan cloud itself and even dimmer compared to the emission seen in the dawn direction at orbit insertion. In this image, the X marks the direction toward the Sun, the Y marks the direction toward Saturn's dawn, and the Z marks Saturn's rotation axis. The dot in the center marks Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The magnetospheric imaging instrument team is based at Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/index.html . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHU/APL/Max-Plank-Institut f¿r Aeronomie/University of Maryland/University of Kansas/University of Arizona/CESR/Bell Laboratories |
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Clouds at Dawn
| Description |
Clouds at Dawn |
| Full Description |
Saturn's clouds billow and swirl in the turbulent zones of shear between eastward- and westward-flowing jets. This view looks toward the terminator on Saturn, where night gives way to day. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approximately 338,000 kilometers (210,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Image scale is 17 kilometers (10 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 20, 2006 |
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Dawn for Odysseus
| Description |
Dawn for Odysseus |
| Full Description |
The eastern rim of the large crater Odysseus is visible along the terminator in this image of Saturn's moon Tethys. This enormous impact feature is the largest on Tethys, at approximately 450 kilometers (280 miles) across. The shadowy rim of another smaller crater can be seen at the bottom. Tethys is 1,060 kilometers (659 miles) across. This Cassini view shows principally the leading hemisphere of Tethys. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 18, 2004, at a distance of 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 94 degrees. The image scale is about 10 kilometers (6 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 team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page http://ciclops.org *Credit*: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
January 26, 2005 |
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| 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 |
Io Above Clouds on New Year's Day, 2001 January 23, 2001 The moon Io floats above the cloudtops of Jupiter in this image captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on the dawn of the new millennium, Jan. 1, 2001, two days after Cassini's closest approach to Jupiter. The image is deceiving: There is room for two and a half Jupiters between Io and Jupiter's clouds. Io is the size of our Moon. 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 For higher resolution, click here. |
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Phoebe's Radiation
| Description |
Phoebe's Radiation |
| Full Description |
This image shows thermal radiation from the day and night sides of Saturn's moon Phoebe, taken by the composite infrared spectrometer onboard Cassini 1.8 hours before the spacecraft's closest approach to Phoebe on June 11, 2004. The left-hand panel displays the image in grayscale format, showing the brightness of Phoebe's radiation in the wavelength range 15-17 microns, which is about 25 times the longest wavelength visible to the naked eye. In the middle panel this brightness is used to estimate the surface temperature distribution across Phoebe. Temperatures are given in degrees Kelvin, and vary from a relatively toasty 107 Kelvin (-267 Fahrenheit), in the late morning near the equator (white, lower right), to less than 75 Kelvin (-324 Fahrenheit) in the northern hemisphere in the pre-dawn hours (dark blue, upper left). The "ragged edge" of Phoebe in this region is an instrumental artifact. Temperatures are affected strongly by topography, as can be seen by comparison with the visible-wavelength image (right). Some of the coldest temperatures are found in the shadowed region inside the large depression in the northern hemisphere (upper right). The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer home page at http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Phoebe Temperature Maps
| Description |
Phoebe Temperature Maps |
| Full Description |
A montage of maps of Saturn's moon Phoebe shows surface temperatures at various times of day as determined by the composite infrared spectrometer onboard Cassini during the June 11, 2004, Phoebe flyby. The asterisk on each map shows the location of the subsolar point, where the Sun is directly overhead. This point moves across the surface as Phoebe rotates. It is morning in regions to the left of the subsolar point, and afternoon in regions to the right. Like a newspaper weather map, different colors indicate different temperatures, though Phoebe's temperatures are distinctly cooler than even the coldest January day on Earth. Equatorial temperatures peak in the early afternoon near 112 Kelvin (-257 Fahrenheit), plunging to 78 Kelvin (-319 Fahrenheit) before dawn, and are even colder at higher latitudes. The large day/night temperature contrasts imply that Phoebe's surface is covered in loose dust or ice particles that store little heat and thus cool off rapidly at night. Regions of Phoebe's surface that were not observed are shown in black. Most of the maps show the effect on surface temperatures of the large crater-like depression seen in Cassini's visible-wavelength images of Phoebe, which is located just left of center in these maps. Crater walls that are shadowed and cold in the early morning in the first map are sunlit and warm in the late afternoon in the final map. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini composite infrared spectrometer home page at http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Goddard Space Flight Center |
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Dawn at the Huygens Site
| Description |
Titan's equatorial latitudes are distinctly different in character from its south polar region, as this image shows. |
| Full Description |
Titan's equatorial latitudes are distinctly different in character from its south polar region, as this image shows. The dark terrain, presumably lowland, seen here does not extend much farther south than about 30 degrees South. The successful Huygens probe landed in such a region. The Huygens probe is rotating into the light here, seeing the dawn of a new day. The bright region toward the right side of Titan's disk is Xanadu. This area is thought to consist of upland terrain that is relatively uncontaminated by the dark material that fills the lowland regions. Near the moon's south pole, and just eastward of the terminator, is the dark feature identified by imaging scientists as the best candidate (so far) for a past or present hydrocarbon lake on Titan (see Clouds in the Distance). Farther east of the lake-like feature, bright clouds arc around the pole. These clouds occupy a latitude range that is consistent with previously-seen convective cloud activity on Titan. Titan is Saturn's largest moon, at 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on July 7, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 60 degrees. The image was obtained using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The 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 |
August 16, 2005 |
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Hubble Provides the First Im
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| Title |
Hubble Provides the First Images of Saturn's Aurorae |
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Moon, Planets, and Rocket Tr
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| Title |
Moon, Planets, and Rocket Trails |
| Explanation |
Are you an early riser [ http://redfrog.norconnect.no/~poems/poems/09560.html ]? Over the last month or so, the bright planets [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990325.html ] Jupiter and Saturn have come to adorn eastern skies before sunrise [ http://redfrog.norconnect.no/~poems/poems/17572.html ]. In fact, astrophotographer Joe Orman [ http://home.cwix.com/~pam.orman@cwix.com/JoeGallery.html ] anticipated that an early bird's reward for looking east on June 10 would be this pleasing arrangement of Jupiter (top right), a crescent Moon, and Saturn (near center), but he was surprised to also find these eerie, iridescent clouds wafting through the pre-dawn sky over suburban Phoenix, Arizona, USA. The clouds turned out to be rocket [ http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Srockhis.htm ] engine [ http://www.wff.nasa.gov/ ] trails [ ftp://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/PAO/Releases/1999/W99-013.htm ] from defense missile tests at the range in White Sands [ http://ruidoso.net/chamber/outdoors/whitesan.html ], New Mexico ... about 300 miles away. While the Moon's phase [ http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/MoonPhase.html#ninetynine ] is just past new moon [ http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/history/mythologyh.html ], gone now from the pre-dawn horizon, brilliant Jupiter [ http://galileo.ivv.nasa.gov/ ] and Saturn [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/ ] can still be seen high toward the southeast in the constellation [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/ constellations.html ] Aries. |
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Pre-Dawn Temperatures on Gan
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PIA01145
Jupiter
Photopolarimeter-Radiometer
| Title |
Pre-Dawn Temperatures on Ganymede |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This infrared image of Jupiter's moon Ganymede, showing heat radiation from its surface at a wavelength of 27 microns (millionths of a meter), provides the best view yet of pre-dawn temperatures on Ganymede. Temperatures, derived from the brightness of the infrared radiation, can be determined from the colors by reference to the scale at the bottom of the image. The image, taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, shows half of Ganymede's disk as seen by the approaching spacecraft. Longitudes covered range from 340 on the right of the image, through longitude zero (the direction facing Jupiter) to longitude 60 near Ganymede's limb on the left. The morning terminator, near longitude 15, curves through the middle of the image, separating areas experiencing the last hours of the long (3.5 Earth day) Ganymede night, on the left, from areas that are warming up in the morning sunshine, on the right. Ganymede's north pole is in the upper right corner of the image, and the south pole is in the lower right. Ganymede rotates from left to right. Nighttime temperatures, shown in blue and purple colors, are in the range 85 - 100 Kelvin (-306 to -279 F). The surface cools steadily during the night, so the warmest nighttime temperatures are on the left side of the disk, and temperatures drop towards the dawn terminator on the right, before warming rapidly once the sun rises (the red, yellow and white areas on the far right). Study of the rate of nighttime cooling and the rate of post-sunrise warming, will provide information about Ganymede's surface properties. The image was taken with Galileo's PPR (Photopolarimeter-Radiometer) instrument on the spacecraft's seventh orbit around Jupiter, from a range of about 190,000 kilometers (118,060 miles). Surface temperatures derived from the strength of infrared radiation, as was done here, are called "brightness temperatures", and may be slightly in error. The PPR instrument builds up an image by slowly scanning across the target over a period of up to one hour. The motion of Galileo relative to Ganymede during this time causes distortions in the satellite shape on the image, which therefore appears slightly non-circular. The small overlapping circles that make up the image show the size of the area, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) across, covered by each individual PPR measurement. Blue spots in the dark sky in the left-hand portion of the image are due to noise. JPL manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. |
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Clouds at Dawn
PIA08263
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Science Subsystem -
…
| Title |
Clouds at Dawn |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Saturn's clouds billow and swirl in the turbulent zones of shear between eastward- and westward-flowing jets. This view looks toward the terminator on Saturn, where night gives way to day. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approximately 338,000 kilometers (210,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Image scale is 17 kilometers (10 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/home/index.cfm [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]. |
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Pre-Dawn Martian Sky
PIA00918
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Pre-Dawn Martian Sky |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
On Sol 39 there were wispy blue clouds in the pre-dawn sky of Mars, as seen by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP). The color image was made by taking blue, green, and red images and then combining them into a single color image. The clouds appear to have a bluish side and a greenish side because they moved (in the wind from the northeast) between images. This picture was made an hour and twenty minutes before sunrise -- the sun is not shining directly on the water ice clouds, but they are illuminated by the dawn twilight. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Pre-Dawn Clouds Over Mars
PIA00919
Sol (our sun)
Imager for Mars Pathfinder
| Title |
Pre-Dawn Clouds Over Mars |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
These are more wispy blue clouds from Sol 39 as seen by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder. The bright clouds near the bottom are about 30 degrees above the horizon. The clouds are believed to be at an altitude of 10 to 15 km, and are thought to be made of small water ice particles. The picture was taken about 35 minutes before sunrise. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. |
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Phoebe Temperature Maps
PIA06403
Saturn
Composite Infrared Spectrome
…
| Title |
Phoebe Temperature Maps |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
A montage of maps of Saturn's moon Phoebe shows surface temperatures at various times of day as determined by the composite infrared spectrometer onboard Cassini during the June 11, 2004, Phoebe flyby. The asterisk on each map shows the location of the subsolar point, where the Sun is directly overhead. This point moves across the surface as Phoebe rotates. It is morning in regions to the left of the subsolar point, and afternoon in regions to the right. Like a newspaper weather map, different colors indicate different temperatures, though Phoebe's temperatures are distinctly cooler than even the coldest January day on Earth. Equatorial temperatures peak in the early afternoon near 112 Kelvin (-257 Fahrenheit), plunging to 78 Kelvin (-319 Fahrenheit) before dawn, and are even colder at higher latitudes. The large day/night temperature contrasts imply that Phoebe's surface is covered in loose dust or ice particles that store little heat and thus cool off rapidly at night. Regions of Phoebe's surface that were not observed are shown in black. Most of the maps show the effect on surface temperatures of the large crater-like depression seen in Cassini's visible-wavelength images of Phoebe, which is located just left of center in these maps. Crater walls that are shadowed and cold in the early morning in the first map are sunlit and warm in the late afternoon in the final map. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] and the Cassini imaging team home page, http//cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [ http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]. |
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Neutral Gas Cloud Around Tit
…
PIA06409
Saturn
Ion and Neutral Mass Spectro
…
| Title |
Neutral Gas Cloud Around Titan |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Images from the magnetospheric imaging instrument and the ion and neutral camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal aspects of the interactions between Saturn's dynamic population of hot energetic ions and the clouds of cold neutral atoms. Future observations may further explain the relationships between these interactions. The most recent image of Titan reveals the emission of high-speed neutral atoms from a globular region approximately 70,000 kilometers (43,496 miles) in diameter, clearly centered on Titan. It is only 1/25 as bright as the region seen toward dawn during Saturn orbit insertion, even though Cassini is now closer to Titan. There is an extended emission region around the Titan cloud, but it is much dimmer than the Titan cloud itself and even dimmer compared to the emission seen in the dawn direction at orbit insertion. In this image, the X marks the direction toward the Sun, the Y marks the direction toward Saturn's dawn, and the Z marks Saturn's rotation axis. The dot in the center marks Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The magnetospheric imaging instrument team is based at Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Md. For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] and the Cassini Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument home page, http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/ [ http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/ ]. |
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Phoebe's Radiation
PIA06402
Saturn
Composite Infrared Spectrome
…
| Title |
Phoebe's Radiation |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
This image shows thermal radiation from the day and night sides of Saturn's moon Phoebe, taken by the composite infrared spectrometer onboard Cassini 1.8 hours before the spacecraft's closest approach to Phoebe on June 11, 2004. The left-hand panel displays the image in grayscale format, showing the brightness of Phoebe's radiation in the wavelength range 15-17 microns, which is about 25 times the longest wavelength visible to the naked eye. In the middle panel this brightness is used to estimate the surface temperature distribution across Phoebe. Temperatures are given in degrees Kelvin, and vary from a relatively toasty 107 Kelvin (-267 Fahrenheit), in the late morning near the equator (white, lower right), to less than 75 Kelvin (-324 Fahrenheit) in the northern hemisphere in the pre-dawn hours (dark blue, upper left). The "ragged edge" of Phoebe in this region is an instrumental artifact. Temperatures are affected strongly by topography, as can be seen by comparison with the visible-wavelength image (right). Some of the coldest temperatures are found in the shadowed region inside the large depression in the northern hemisphere (upper right). The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The composite infrared spectrometer team is based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] and the Cassini imaging team home page, http//cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ [ http://cirs.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ]. |
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Dawn at the Huygens Site
PIA07565
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem -
…
| Title |
Dawn at the Huygens Site |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Titan's equatorial latitudes are distinctly different in character from its south polar region, as this image shows. The dark terrain, presumably lowland, seen here does not extend much farther south than about 30 degrees South. The successful Huygens probe landed in such a region. The Huygens probe is rotating into the light here, seeing the dawn of a new day. The bright region toward the right side of Titan's disk is Xanadu. This area is thought to consist of upland terrain that is relatively uncontaminated by the dark material that fills the lowland regions. Near the moon's south pole, and just eastward of the terminator, is the dark feature identified by imaging scientists as the best candidate (so far) for a past or present hydrocarbon lake on Titan (see PIA06241 [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06241 ]). Farther east of the lake-like feature, bright clouds arc around the pole. These clouds occupy a latitude range that is consistent with previously-seen convective cloud activity on Titan. Titan is Saturn's largest moon, at 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on July 7, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 60 degrees. The image was obtained using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The 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 team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]. |
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Galileo Optical Experiment (
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PIA00230
Sol (our sun)
Solid-State Imaging
| Title |
Galileo Optical Experiment (GOPEX) |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Two sets of laser pulses transmitted from Earth to a spacecraft over a distance of 1.4 million kilometers (870,000 miles) in a communications experiment are shown in this long-exposure image made by the Galileo spacecraft's imaging system. In the image, taken on Dec. 10, second day of the 8-day experiment, the sunlit part of the planet (west central United States) is to the right, the night side to the left. The camera was scanned from bottom to top of the frame (approximately south to north), smearing terrain features but showing individual pulses. The five larger spots in a vertical column near the pre-dawn centerline of the frame represent pulses from the U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory's Starfire Optical Range near Albuquerque, NM, at a pulse rate of 10 Hz. Those to the left are from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Table Mountain Observatory near Wrightwood, CA, at a rate of 15 Hz. Spots near the day/night terminator to the right are noise events not associated with the laser transmissions. The experiment, called GOPEX (Galileo Optical Experiment), is demonstrating a laser "uplink" from Earth to spacecraft. Laser "downlinks" may be used in the future to send large volumes of data from spacecraft to Earth. The experiment is operated by JPL's Tracking and Data Acquisition Technology Development Office for NASA's Office of Space Communications Advanced Systems Proqram. |
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Dawn for Odysseus
PIA06571
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem -
…
| Title |
Dawn for Odysseus |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
The eastern rim of the large crater Odysseus is visible along the terminator in this image of Saturn's moon Tethys. This enormous impact feature is the largest on Tethys, at approximately 450 kilometers (280 miles) across. The shadowy rim of another smaller crater can be seen at the bottom. Tethys is 1,060 kilometers (659 miles) across. This Cassini view shows principally the leading hemisphere of Tethys. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 18, 2004, at a distance of 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 94 degrees. The image scale is about 10 kilometers (6 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 team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. For images visit the Cassini imaging team home page http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]. |
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Impact Crater
PIA04049
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys
…
| Title |
Impact Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age (October 4, 1957). On this date the former Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1. Sputnik means fellow traveler. For comparison Sputnik 1 weighed only 83.6 kg (184 pounds) while Mars Odyssey weighs in at 758 kg (1,671 pounds). This scene shows several interesting geologic features associated with impact craters on Mars. The continuous lobes of material that make up the ejecta blanket of the large impact crater are evidence that the crater ejecta were fluidized upon impact of the meteor that formed the crater. Volatiles within the surface mixed with the ejecta upon impact thus creating the fluidized form. Several smaller impact craters are also observed within the ejecta blanket of the larger impact crater giving a relative timing of events. Layering of geologic units is also observed within the large impact crater walls and floor and may represent different compositional units that erode at variable rates. Cliff faces, dissected gullies, and heavily eroded impact craters are observed in the bottom half of the image at the terminus of a flat-topped plateau. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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Impact Crater
PIA04049
Sol (our sun)
Thermal Emission Imaging Sys
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| Title |
Impact Crater |
| Original Caption Released with Image |
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the dawn of the Space Age (October 4, 1957). On this date the former Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1. Sputnik means fellow traveler. For comparison Sputnik 1 weighed only 83.6 kg (184 pounds) while Mars Odyssey weighs in at 758 kg (1,671 pounds). This scene shows several interesting geologic features associated with impact craters on Mars. The continuous lobes of material that make up the ejecta blanket of the large impact crater are evidence that the crater ejecta were fluidized upon impact of the meteor that formed the crater. Volatiles within the surface mixed with the ejecta upon impact thus creating the fluidized form. Several smaller impact craters are also observed within the ejecta blanket of the larger impact crater giving a relative timing of events. Layering of geologic units is also observed within the large impact crater walls and floor and may represent different compositional units that erode at variable rates. Cliff faces, dissected gullies, and heavily eroded impact craters are observed in the bottom half of the image at the terminus of a flat-topped plateau. Note: this THEMIS visual image has not been radiometrically nor geometrically calibrated for this preliminary release. An empirical correction has been performed to remove instrumental effects. A linear shift has been applied in the cross-track and down-track direction to approximate spacecraft and planetary motion. Fully calibrated and geometrically projected images will be released through the Planetary Data System in accordance with Project policies at a later time. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech, an external cover is removed from around the shipping container holding the Dawn spacecraft. The container will then be moved into the high bay of the Payload Processing Facility and the spacecraft removed. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, technicians roll the Dawn spacecraft into clean room C for unbagging and further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In clean room C of Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, a worker wearing a "bunny suit," or clean-room attire, looks over the Dawn spacecraft after removing the protective cover, at bottom right. In the clean room, the spacecraft will undergo further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In clean room C of Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, technicians dressed in "bunny suits," or clean-room attire, begin working on the Dawn spacecraft. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech, the shipping container holding the Dawn spacecraft is removed from the truck. The container will then be moved into the high bay of the Payload Processing Facility and the spacecraft removed. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Astrotech, the shipping container holding the Dawn spacecraft is moved into the high bay of the Payload Processing Facility. The spacecraft will next be removed from the container. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In clean room C of Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, a worker wearing a "bunny suit," or clean-room attire, begins removing the protective cover surrounding the Dawn spacecraft. In the clean room, the spacecraft will undergo further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, a crane is attached to the shipping container to remove it from around the Dawn spacecraft. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, a crane lifts the shipping container from the Dawn spacecraft. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In clean room C of Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, a worker wears a "bunny suit," or clean-room attire, next to the Dawn spacecraft, which will be unbagged and undergo further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, a crane is being attached to the Dawn spacecraft to lift it from the transporter. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, an overhead crane lifts the Dawn spacecraft from its transporter. Dawn will be moved into clean room C for unbagging and further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- The Dawn spacecraft is seen here in clean room C of Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility. In the clean room, the spacecraft will undergo further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Two trucks (one air-ride, one flat-bed) deliver the Dawn spacecraft, as well as additional electrical and ground support equipment and xenon ground support equipment, to Astrotech. Dawn will be moved from the truck and the shipping container removed. The spacecraft will then be moved into the high bay of the Payload Processing Facility. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann |
| Release Date |
04/10/2007 |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
…
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- In Astrotech's Payload Processing Facility, technicians help secure the Dawn spacecraft onto a moveable stand. Dawn will be moved into clean room C for unbagging and further processing. Dawn's mission is to explore two of the asteroid belt's most intriguing and dissimilar occupants: asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. The Dawn mission is managed by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C. Photo credit: NASA/George Shelton |
| Release Date |
04/11/2007 |
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