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Successful Flight Through En
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The Cassini spacecraft has w
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11/6/09
| Description |
The Cassini spacecraft has weathered the Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, flyby of SaturnÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s moon Enceladus in good health and has been sending images and data of the encounter back to Earth. Cassini had approached Enceladus more closely before, but this passage took the spacecraft on its deepest plunge yet through the heart of the plume shooting out from the south polar region. Scientists are eagerly sifting through the results. In this unprocessed image, sunlight brightens a crescent curve along the edge of Saturn's moon Enceladus and highlights its misty plume. The image was captured by Cassini's narrow-angle camera as the spacecraft passed about 190,000 kilometers (120,000 miles) over the moon. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2010. At its closest point on Nov. 2, Cassini flew about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Since the discovery of the plume in 2005, scientists have been captivated by the enigmatic jets. Previous flybys detected water vapor, sodium and organic molecules, but scientists need to know more about the plumeÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s composition and density to characterize the source, possibly a liquid ocean under the moonÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s icy surface. It would also help them determine whether Enceladus has the conditions necessary for life. Mission managers did extensive studies to make sure the spacecraft could fly safely through the plumes and not use an excessive amount of propellant. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
11/6/09 |
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Successful Flight Through En
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The Cassini spacecraft has w
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11/9/09
| Description |
The Cassini spacecraft has weathered the Monday, Nov. 2, 2009, flyby of SaturnÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s moon Enceladus in good health and has been sending images and data of the encounter back to Earth. Cassini had approached Enceladus more closely before, but this passage took the spacecraft on its deepest plunge yet through the heart of the plume shooting out from the south polar region. Scientists are eagerly sifting through the results. In this unprocessed image, sunlight brightens a crescent curve along the edge of Saturn's moon Enceladus and highlights its misty plume. The image was captured by Cassini's narrow-angle camera as the spacecraft passed about 190,000 kilometers (120,000 miles) over the moon. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2010. At its closest point on Nov. 2, Cassini flew about 100 kilometers (60 miles) above the surface of Enceladus. Since the discovery of the plume in 2005, scientists have been captivated by the enigmatic jets. Previous flybys detected water vapor, sodium and organic molecules, but scientists need to know more about the plumeÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s composition and density to characterize the source, possibly a liquid ocean under the moonÎÿ_Îÿ_Îÿ__Îÿ__Îÿ_s icy surface. It would also help them determine whether Enceladus has the conditions necessary for life. Mission managers did extensive studies to make sure the spacecraft could fly safely through the plumes and not use an excessive amount of propellant. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
11/9/09 |
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In this artist's rendering,
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| Description |
In this artist's rendering, the European-provided Huygens probe parachutes to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan after being released by the Cassini orbiter. Cassini will receive and relay to Earth scientific data collected by instruments on the probe, then explore Saturn, its many moons, ring system and magnetic environment for nearly four years. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency and is scheduled for launch in October 1997. [Painting for NASA by Craig Attebery] |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the Mobile Service Tower is rolled away from the Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini spacecraft, marking a major milestone in the launch countdown sequence. Retraction of the structure began about an hour later than scheduled due to minor problems with ground support equipment. The countdown clock for the Cassini mission began ticking earlier today at the T-26-hour mark. Other upcoming prelaunch milestones include activation of the final launch sequence for the Cassini spacecraft at the T-180-minute mark in the countdown, to be followed about an hour later by initiation of loading of the Titan IVB's Centaur stage with its complement of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Liftoff of Cassini on the journey to Saturn and its moon Titan is slated to occur during a window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13, and extending through 7:15 a.m. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -
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10/10/97
| Date |
10/10/97 |
| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- At Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Station, the Mobile Service Tower has been retracted away from the Titan IVB/Centaur carrying the Cassini spacecraft, marking a major milestone in the launch countdown sequence. Retraction of the structure began about an hour later than scheduled due to minor problems with ground support equipment. The launch vehicle, Cassini spacecraft and attached Centaur stage encased in a payload fairing, altogether stand about 183 feet tall, mounted at the base of the launch vehicle are two upgraded solid rocket motors. Liftoff of Cassini on the journey to Saturn and its moon Titan is slated to occur during a window opening at 4:55 a.m. EDT, Oct. 13, and extending through 7:15 a.m. |
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Cassini Engine Burn
In this computer artist's re
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3/28/96
| Date |
3/28/96 |
| Description |
In this computer artist's rendering, the Cassini spacecraft fires its engine in a maneuver that will place the spacecraft in orbit around Saturn. The orbiter will study the atmosphere, magnetic environment, extensive ring system and moons of the giant planet for four years. Cassini will also release a probe called Huygens that will descend into the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to study the atmosphere, surface and chemical composition of this large satellite. Cassini is a joint mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The mission is scheduled for launch in October 1997 and will reach Saturn in July 2004. [Digital composition for NASA-JPL was created by Dave Seal of JPL.] |
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Technicians at the Jet Propu
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| Description |
Technicians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ready the power and pyro subsystem for installation of NASA's Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft. The work was one of many major milestones met in the Cassini program in January 1996. Cassini is scheduled for launch to Saturn in October 1997 and will arrive at the ringed planet in July 2004 to begin four years of detailed studies there. It will also carry a parachuted probe to be dropped to the surface of Saturn's large moon Titan. The Cassini mission is a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. |
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Jupiter casts a baleful eye
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| Description |
Jupiter casts a baleful eye on wayward Ganymede in this frame, color-composited from narrow angle images taken on November 18 and high-pass filtered and contrast-enhanced to bring out details not readily seen otherwise. The smallest features in this image are 240 km across. Jupiter's `eye', the Great Red Spot, was captured just before disappearing over the eastern limb of the planet. The furrowed eyebrow above and to the left of the Spot is a turbulent wake region caused by westward flow deflected to the north and around the Red Spot. (An animation of ISS images from early October, beautifully illustrating this flow, was released on November 20 and can be viewed below.) Within the band south of the Red Spot are seen a trio of white ovals, small high pressure counter-clockwise rotating regions that are dynamically similar to the Red Spot. The dark filamentary features interspersed between the white ovals are probably cyclonic circulations, similar to those seen by Galileo, and, unlike the ovals, are rotating clockwise. Jupiter's Equatorial Zone stretching across the planet to the north of the Spot appears bright white, with gigantic plume clouds spreading out from the equator both to the northeast and to the southest. in a chevron pattern. This zone looks distinctly different than it did during the Voyager flyby 21 years ago when its color was predominantly brown, and only SW/NE-trending white plumes north of the equator were conspicous against the darker material beneath. The bluish gray regions near the equator, noted in earlier releases, are regions where the clouds have cleared and, except for partial obscuration by thin upper level hazes, we can see to great depth. The darker, brownish North Equatorial belt north of the Equatorial Zone is also quite turbulent. (See accompanying release below.) Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon, about 50% larger than our own Moon and larger than the planet Mercury. Like the Moon and Mercury, Ganymede has no atmosphere, the visible details seen in this image are different geological terrains on the satellite's surface. Dark areas tend to be older and heavily cratered, the brighter locales are younger and more sparsely cratered. The latter are the famed grooved terrains first seen by Voyager and imaged at high resolution by Galileo. Cassini images of Ganymede and the other Galilean satellites taken near closest approach on December 30 will have resolutions of ~60 km/pixel, four times better than that seen here. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Europa, Callisto and Jupiter
One moment in an ancient, or
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12/21/00
| Date |
12/21/00 |
| Description |
One moment in an ancient, orbital dance is caught in this color picture taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 7, 2000, just as two of Jupiter's four major moons, Europa and Callisto, were nearly perfectly aligned with each other and the center of the planet. The distances are deceiving. Europa, seen against Jupiter, is 600,000 kilometers (370,000 miles) above the planet's cloud tops. Callisto, at lower left, is nearly three times that distance from the cloud tops. Europa is a bit smaller than Earth's Moon and has one of the brightest surfaces in the solar system. Callisto is 50 percent bigger -- roughly the size of Saturn's largest satellite, Titan -- and three times darker than Europa. Its brightness had to be enhanced in this picture, relative Europa's and Jupiter's, in order for Callisto to be seen in this image. Europa and Callisto have had very different geologic histories but share some surprising similarities, such as surfaces rich in ice. Callisto has apparently not undergone major internal compositional stratification, but Europa's interior has differentiated into a rocky core and an outer layer of nearly pure ice. Callisto's ancient surface is completely covered by large impact craters: The brightest features seen on Callisto in this image were discovered by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979 to be bright craters, like those on our Moon. In contrast, Europa's young surface is covered by a wild tapestry of ridges, chaotic terrain and only a handful of large craters. Recent data from the magnetometer carried by the Galileo spacecraft, which has been in orbit around Jupiter since 1995, indicate the presence of conducting fluid, most likely salty water, inside both Callisto and Europa. Scientists are eager to discover whether the surface of Saturn's Titan resembles that of Callisto or Europa, or whether it is entirely different, when Cassini finally reaches its destination in 2004. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona ##### |
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Satellite Rings
This image sequence, taken b
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12/30/00
| Date |
12/30/00 |
| Description |
This image sequence, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft as it approached Jupiter, shows the motions, over a 16 hour-period, of two satellites embedded in Jupiter's ring. The moon Adrastea is the fainter of the two, and Metis is the brighter. Images such as these will be used to refine the orbits of the two bodies. The composition was made from images taken during a 40-hour sequence of the Jovian ring on December 11, 2000. Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Univ. of Arizona |
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Seeing the Invisible: Jupite
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This image taken on Dec. 28,
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12/30/00
| Date |
12/30/00 |
| Description |
This image taken on Dec. 28, 2000, by the ion and neutral camera on NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes the huge magnetosphere surrounding Jupiter visible in a way no instrument on any previous spacecraft has been able to do. The magnetosphere is a bubble of charged particles trapped within the magnetic environment of the planet. This image shows it stretching across about 3 million kilometers (about 1.8 million miles) of space, or more than 12 times the diameter of Jupiter. Some of the fast-moving ions within the magnetosphere pick up electrons to become neutral atoms, and once they become neutral, they can escape Jupiter's magnetic field, flying out from the magnetosphere at speeds of thousands of kilometers or miles per second. Cassini's instrument for imaging the magnetosphere builds an image from these atoms reaching the spacecraft, analagous to the way a normal camera builds an image from photons. Some details of structure are visible within the magnetosphere, including the most intense emission region about 300,000 kilometers (about 200,000 miles) out from Jupiter, where material spewed from the volcanoes of Jupiter's moon Io form a torus, or doughnut-shaped ring, around the planet. Additional information about Cassini is available online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini . Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. |
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Eyeing Ganymede
Jupiter casts a baleful eye
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12/5/00
| Date |
12/5/00 |
| Description |
Jupiter casts a baleful eye toward the moon Ganymede in this enhanced-contrast image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Jupiter's `eye', the Great Red Spot, was captured just before disappearing around the eastern edge of the planet. The furrowed eyebrow above and to the left of the spot is a turbulent wake region caused by westward flow that has been deflected to the north and around the Red Spot. The smallest features visible are about 240 kilometers (150 miles) across. Within the band south of the Red Spot are a trio of white ovals, high pressure counterclockwise-rotating regions that are dynamically similar to the Red Spot. The dark filamentary features interspersed between white ovals are probably cyclonic circulations and, unlike the ovals, are rotating clockwise. Jupiter's equatorial zone stretching across the planet north of the Spot appears bright white, with gigantic plume clouds spreading out from the equator both to the northeast and to the southeast in a chevron pattern. This zone looks distinctly different than it did during the Voyager flyby 21 years ago. Then, its color was predominantly brown and the only white plumes conspicuous against the darker material beneath them were oriented southwest-to-northeast. Ganymede is Jupiter's largest moon, about 50 percent larger than our own Moon and larger than the planet Mercury. The visible details in this image are different geological terrains. Dark areas tend to be older and heavily cratered, brighter areas are younger and less cratered. Cassini images of Ganymede and Jupiter's other large moons taken near closest approach on Dec. 30 will have resolutions about four times better than that seen here. This image is a color composite of ones taken with different filters by Cassini's narrow-angle camera on Nov. 18, 2000, processed to enhance contrast. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Cassini Spacecraft Fully Ass
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The fully assembled Cassini
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2/20/97
| Date |
2/20/97 |
| Description |
The fully assembled Cassini spacecraft as it appeared Feb. 14, 1997 in JPL's spacecraft assembly facility in Pasadena, CA. The spacecraft is scheduled for launch on its mission to Saturn on Oct. 6, 1997 from Cape Canaveral, FL. Having successfully completed testing in JPL's space simulator, the spacecraft is now undergoing a final round of systems testing prior to shipment this spring to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for launch preparations. Cassini's mission is to orbit Saturn for four years and study the planet, its rings and moons in detail. The large moon Titan is a principal target for exploration, and Cassini will carry the Huygens probe, seen here mounted on the side of the spacecraft (at left), to be released to enter Titan's thick atmosphere and descend to the surface via parachute. The Huygens probe is provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the radio antenna at top was provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The Cassini mission is a joint endeavor of NASA, ESA and ASI. JPL manages the Cassini program for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### |
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Himalia, a Small Moon of Jup
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft ca
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1/23/01
| Date |
1/23/01 |
| Description |
NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured images of Himalia, the brightest of Jupiter's outer moons, on Dec. 19, 2000, from a distance of 4.4 million kilometers (2.7 million miles). This near-infrared image, with a resolution of about 27 kilometers (17 miles) per pixel, indicates that the side of Himalia facing the spacecraft is roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) in the up-down direction. Himalia probably has a non- spherical shape. Scientists believe it is a body captured into orbit around Jupiter, most likely an irregularly shaped asteroid. In the main frame, an arrow indicates Himalia. North is up. The inset shows the little moon magnified by a factor of 10, plus a graphic indicating Himalia's size and the direction of lighting (with sunlight coming from the left). Cassini's pictures of Himalia were taken during a brief period when Cassini's attitude was stabilized by thrusters instead of by a steadier reaction- wheel system. No spacecraft or telescope had previously shown any of Jupiter's outer moons as more than a star-like single dot. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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A Digital Video Disk (DVD) b
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8/21/97
| Date |
8/21/97 |
| Description |
A Digital Video Disk (DVD) bearing 616,400 digitized signatures of people from nations around the world has been attached to the Cassini spacecraft and will soon be on its way to Saturn. The disk cover, designed by Cassini science and engineering manager Charley Kohlhase, shows the flags from 28 of the 81 nations whose citizens sent signatures for the chance to send their names into space. The planet Saturn with its rings and its moon Titan and the Earth are also represented, as is the Cassini spacecraft and its Huygens probe. The feathers represent the Golden Eagle, whose feathers were used as quills for writing to spread wisdom. The bird is revered in mythology for carrying spirits above the Earth to the heavens. The flags, going clockwise from the American flag top center, are in order of the number of signatures collected, with the highest number from the United States. The disk is fitted into a shallow cavity between two pieces of aluminum that will protect it from micrometeoroid impacts. The package will be mounted to the side of the 2-story- tall spacecraft beneath a pallet carrying cameras and other science instruments that will be used to study the Saturnian system. A specially designed, multicolored patch of thermal blanket material will be installed over the disk package. Along with the spacecraft, the disk will reside in Saturn's orbit centuries after the primary mission is completed in July 2008. The Cassini mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C., by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology. ##### |
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Galileo and Cassini Image: T
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Two Giant Plumes on Io ,Two
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3/29/01
| Date |
3/29/01 |
| Description |
Two Giant Plumes on Io ,Two tall volcanic plumes and the rings of red material they have deposited onto surrounding surface areas appear in images taken of Jupiter's moon Io by NASA's Galileo and Cassini spacecraft in late December 2000 and early January 2001. One plume, from the volcano Pele, shoots upward nearly 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the surface near Io's equator. The plume has been active for at least four years and, until now, had been far larger than any other plume seen on Io. The images also show a second plume about the same size, closer to Io's north pole. This plume had never been seen before. It is associated with a fresh eruption from the Tvashtar Catena volcanic area. The observations were made during joint studies of the Jupiter system while Cassini was passing Jupiter on its way to Saturn. Galileo passed closer to Io for higher-resolution images, and Cassini acquired images at ultraviolet wavelengths, better for detecting active volcanic plumes. The Cassini ultraviolet images, upper right, reveal two gigantic, actively erupting plumes of gas and dust. Near the equator, just the top of Pele's plume is visible where it projects into sunlight. None of it would be illuminated if it were less than 240 kilometers (150 miles) high. These images indicate a total height for Pele of 390 kilometers (242 miles). The Cassini image at far right shows a bright spot over Pele's vent. Although the Pele hot spot has a high temperature, silicate lava cannot be hot enough to explain a bright spot in the ultraviolet, so the origin of this bright spot is a mystery, but it may indicate that Pele was unusually active when the picture was taken. Also visible is a plume near Io's north pole. Although 15 active plumes over Io's equatorial regions have been detected in hundreds of images from NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, this is the first image ever acquired of an active plume over a polar region of Io. The plume projects about 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) over the limb, the edge of the globe. If it were erupting from a point on the limb, it would be only slightly larger than a typical Ionian plume, but the image does not reveal whether the source is actually at the limb or beyond it, out of view. A distinctive feature in Galileo images since 1997 has been a giant red ring of Pele plume deposits about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) in diameter. The Pele ring is seen again in one of the new Galileo images, lower left. When the new Galileo images were returned this month, scientists were astonished to see a second giant red ring on Io, centered around Tvashtar Catena at 63 degrees north latitude. (To see a comparison from before the ring was deposited, see images PIA-01604 or PIA-02309.) Tvashtar was the site of an active curtain of high-temperature silicate lava imaged by Galileo in November 1999 and February 2000 (image PIA- 02584). The new ring shows that Tvashtar must be the vent for the north polar plume imaged by Cassini from the other side of Io. This means the plume is actually about 385 kilometers (239 miles) high, just like Pele. The uncertainty in estimating the height is about 30 kilometers (19 miles), so the plume could be anywhere from 355 to 415 kilometers (221 to 259 miles) high. If this new plume deposit is just one millimeter (four one- hundredths of an inch) thick, then the eruption produced more ash than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. NASA recently approved a third extension of the Galileo mission, including a pass over Io's north pole in August 2001. The spacecraft's trajectory will pass directly over Tvashtar at an altitude of 200 kilometers (124 miles). Will Galileo fly through an active plume? That depends on whether this eruption is long- lived like Pele or brief, and it also depends on how high the plume is next August. Two Pele-sized plumes are inferred to have erupted in 1979 during the four months between Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys, as indicated by new Pele-sized rings in Voyager 2 images. Those eruptions, both from high-latitude locations, were shorter-lived than Pele, but their actual durations are unknown. In May, Galileo will get another, more distant look at Tvashtar. It has been said that Io is the heartbeat of the jovian magnetosphere. The two giant plumes evidenced in these images may have had significant effects on the types, density and distribution of neutral and charged particles in the Jupiter system during the joint observations of the system by Galileo and Cassini from November 2000 to March 2001. These Cassini images were acquired on Jan. 2, 2001, except for the frame at the far right, which was acquired a day earlier. The Galileo images were acquired on Dec. 30 and 31, 2000. Cassini was about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from Io, 10 times farther than Galileo. More information about the Cassini and Galileo joint observations of the Jupiter system is available online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby . Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Galileo and Cassini missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. |
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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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Jupiter in color, by Cassini
This color image of Jupiter
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10/9/00
| Date |
10/9/00 |
| Description |
This color image of Jupiter was taken by the camera onboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft when it was 81.3 million kilometers (50.5 million miles) from the planet. It is composed of images taken in the blue, green, and red regions of the spectrum and is therefore close to the true color of Jupiter that one would see through an Earth-based telescope. The image is remarkably similar to images taken by NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft more than 21 years ago, illustrating the stability of Jupiter's weather patterns. The parallel dark and bright bands and many other large-scale features are quasi- permanent structures that survive despite the intense small-scale activity ongoing in the atmosphere. The longevity of the large- scale features is an intrinsic property of the atmospheric flows on a gaseous planet such as Jupiter, with no solid surface. Smaller features, such as those in the dark bands north and south of the equator, are observed to form and disappear in a few days. Everything visible on the planet is a cloud. Unlike Earth, where only water condenses to form clouds, Jupiter has several cloud-forming substances in its atmosphere. The updrafts and downdrafts bring different mixtures of these substances up from below, leading to clouds of different colors. The bluish features just north of the equator are regions of reduced cloud cover, similar to the place where the Galileo atmospheric probe entered in 1995. They are called "hot spots" because the reduced cloud cover allows heat to escape from warmer, deeper levels in the atmosphere. Jupiter's moon Europa is seen at the right, casting a shadow on the planet. Scientists believe Europa holds promise of a liquid ocean beneath its surface. 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, Calif., manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Moons of Interest
| Description |
Moons of Interest |
| Full Description |
Wrinkled and cracked Enceladus hangs in the distance as the pitted ring moon Janus, at right, rounds the outer edge of the F ring. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) is remarkable for its actively venting south polar region, while Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) is known for its orbital swap with the moon Epimetheus. The bright core of the F ring is perhaps 50 kilometers wide and contains numerous clumps and kinks. Dimmer, flanking ringlets on either side of the core wind into a tight spiral structure, discovered in Cassini images. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 21, 2006 at a distance of approximately 565,000 kilometers (351,000 miles) from Janus, 702,000 kilometers (436,000 miles) from Enceladus and 530,000 kilometers (329,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Janus and 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Enceladus. 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 26, 2006 |
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Uncovering Rhea
| Description |
Two Saturnian moons meet in the sky. Dione departs after crossing the face of Rhea for several minutes. |
| Full Description |
Two Saturnian moons meet in the sky. Dione departs after crossing the face of Rhea for several minutes. Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across), at right, has a notably smoother-looking surface than Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), suggesting the former has been modified more recently. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Dione and 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Rhea. The Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle is about 134 degrees on both moons. Image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Dione and 18 kilometers (11 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 20, 2006 |
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A Tale of Two Moons
| Description |
Many denizens of the Saturn system wear a uniformly gray mantle of darkened ice, but not these two moons. The brightest body in the solar system, Enceladus, is contrasted here against Titan's smoggy, golden murk. |
| Full Description |
Many denizens of the Saturn system wear a uniformly gray mantle of darkened ice, but not these two moons. The brightest body in the solar system, Enceladus, is contrasted here against Titan's smoggy, golden murk. Ironically, what these two moons hold in common gives rise to their stark contrasting colors. Both bodies are, to varying degrees, geologically active. For Enceladus, its southern polar vents emit a spray of icy particles that coats the small moon, giving it a clean, white veneer. On Titan, yet undefined processes are supplying the atmosphere with methane and other chemicals that are broken down by sunlight. These chemicals are creating the thick yellow-orange haze that is spread through the atmosphere and, over geologic time, falls and coats the surface. The thin, bluish haze along Titan's limb is caused when sunlight is scattered by haze particles roughly the same size as the wavelength of blue light, or around 400 nanometers. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained on Feb. 5, 2006, using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 miles) from Titan. Resolution in the original images was 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. The view has been magnified by a factor of two. 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 |
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Nature's Canvas
| Description |
Nature's Canvas |
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In a splendid portrait created by light and gravity, Saturn's lonely moon Mimas is seen against the cool, blue-streaked backdrop of Saturn's northern hemisphere. Delicate shadows cast by the rings arc gracefully across the planet, fading into darkness on Saturn's night side. The part of the atmosphere seen here appears darker and more bluish than the warm brown and gold hues seen in Cassini images of the southern hemisphere, due to preferential scattering of blue wavelengths by the cloud-free upper atmosphere. The bright blue swath near Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is created by sunlight passing through the Cassini division (4,800 kilometers, or 2,980 miles wide). The rightmost part of this distinctive feature is slightly overexposed and therefore bright white in this image. Shadows of several thin ringlets within the division can be seen here as well. The dark band that stretches across the center of the image is the shadow of Saturn's B ring, the densest of the main rings. Part of the actual Cassini division appears at the bottom, along with the A ring and the narrow, outer F ring. The A ring is transparent enough that, from this viewing angle, the atmosphere and threadlike shadows cast by the inner C ring are visible through it. Images taken with red, green and blue filters were combined to create this color view. The images were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Nov. 7, 2004, at a distance of 3.7 million kilometers (2.3 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 22 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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A Real Shiner
| Description |
A Real Shiner |
| Full Description |
Saturn's moon Rhea shows off the moon equivalent of a black eye -- a bright, rayed crater near its eastern limb. Rhea is about half the size of Earth's moon. At 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across, it is the second-largest moon orbiting Saturn. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 24, 2004, at a distance of about 1.7 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 40 degrees. The image scale is approximately 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel. Cassini will image this hemisphere of Rhea again in mid-January 2005, just after the Huygens probe landing on Titan - with approximately 1-kilometer (0.6-mile) resolution. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Rhea's Battered Surface
| Description |
Rhea's Battered Surface |
| Full Description |
This view of Saturn's second-largest moon, Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles, across), shows some of the large craters that cover its surface. There is a bright feature near the moon's right limb, possibly a large, rayed crater or bright icy material exposed by internal processes. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Sept. 26, 2004, at a distance of 7.1 million kilometers (4.4 million miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 75 degrees. The image scale is 43 kilometers (27 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of four 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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Seeing in the Dark
| Description |
Seeing in the Dark |
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New details on Iapetus are illuminated by reflected light from Saturn in this revealing Cassini image. Never-before-seen features on the Saturn-facing part of Iapetus¿ bright trailing hemisphere are visible for the first time, including many dark spots, and a sharper view of a dark, circular structure that was first seen at very low resolution by NASA's Voyager 1 in 1980. Iapetus diameter is 1,436 kilometers (892 miles). The image shows mainly the night side of Iapetus, part of the far brighter sunlit side appears at the right and is overexposed due to the long integration time of 180 seconds. Despite this long exposure time, almost no blurring due to the spacecraft¿s motion is apparent. This technique for imaging the night side of Iapetus will be used again during a flyby on Jan. 1, 2005, when Cassini will pass 13 times closer to the icy moon. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 22, 2004, at a distance of 1.6 million kilometers (994,000 miles) from Iapetus, and from a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 161 degrees. The view is centered on 0.4 degrees north latitude, 317 degrees west longitude on Iapetus. The image scale is 9.4 kilometers (5.8 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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Huygens Landing Site Revisit
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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 |
January 13, 2006 This is an animated artist interpretation of the area surrounding the Huygens landing site, based on images and data returned Jan. 14, 2005. On January 14, 2005, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens probe reached the upper layer of Titan's atmosphere and landed on the surface after a parachute descent 2 hours and 28 minutes later. As part of the joint NASA/ESA/ASI mission to Saturn and its moons, the Huygens probe was sent from the Cassini spacecraft to explore Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Titan's organic chemistry may be like that of the primitive Earth around 4000 million years ago, and it may hold clues about how life began on our planet. + Read the Feature |
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Saturn's View of Titan
| Description |
Saturn's View of Titan |
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As it approached Titan for yet another revealing encounter, the Cassini spacecraft acquired this image showing terrain on the moon's Saturn-facing hemisphere. Prominent dark areas found in the moon's equatorial region appear to contain vast and continuous dune fields, discovered by the Cassini Radar experiment and likely composed of particles that drop from Titan's unique, smoggy atmosphere. The dark regions seen here are provisionally named Aaru and Senkyo (at right), with parts of western Fensal and Aztlan showing at left, near the terminator. Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained on July 2, 2006 at a distance of approximately 163,000 kilometers (101,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 62 degrees. Image scale is 19 kilometers (12 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 |
July 28, 2006 |
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Iapetus' Dark Side
| Description |
Iapetus' Dark Side |
| Full Description |
This image shows the dark, leading hemisphere of the mysterious moon Iapetus. The dark area is the Cassini region, named for Giovanni Cassini, who discovered the moon in 1672. The diameter of Iapetus is 1,436 kilometers (892 miles). Cassini noted that he was able to see the moon on one side of its orbit around Saturn, but not on the other side. From this, he correctly deduced that one hemisphere must be dark while the other is much brighter. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Sept. 24, 2004, at a distance of 7.4 million kilometers (4.6 million miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun-Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 51 degrees. The image scale is 45 kilometers (28 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of four 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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Shade from Epimetheus
| Description |
Shade from Epimetheus |
| Full Description |
The shadow of Epimetheus, one of Saturn's co-orbital moons, races across the planet's restless cloud tops. Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) cruises along beyond the orbits of the narrow F ring and its shepherd moons. Farther south on Saturn, the swirls and eddies are obscured by the shadow of the outer A ring and its two prominent, moon-containing gaps, Encke (bottom) and Keeler (dim, at the A ring edge). The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The view was obtained on June 30, 2006 at a distance of approximately 335,000 kilometers (208,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 24, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 162 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 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 |
July 24, 2006 |
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Craters of Tethys
| Description |
Craters of Tethys |
| Full Description |
Two large craters and hints of several smaller ones are visible in this Cassini image of Saturn's icy moon Tethys (1060 kilometers, or 659 miles, across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Sept. 23, 2004, at a distance of 7.9 million kilometers (4.9 million miles) from Tethys and at a Sun- Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 80 degrees. The image scale is 48 kilometers (30 miles) per pixel. The image has been contrast-enhanced and magnified by a factor of four 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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Xanadu's Meandering Rivers
| Description |
Xanadu's Meandering Rivers |
| Full Description |
A network of river channels is located atop Xanadu, the continent-sized region on Saturn's moon Titan. This radar image was captured by the Cassini Radar Mapper on April 30, 2006. These winding, meandering river channels start from the top of the image and run like a fork in the road, splitting to the right and left of the image. At Titan's chilly conditions, streams of methane and/or ethane might flow across parts of the region. The picture is roughly 230 kilometers (143 miles) wide by 340 kilometers (211 miles) long, and shows features as small as 500 meters (1,640 feet). 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 |
July 19, 2006 |
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Intriguing Enceladus
| Description |
Intriguing Enceladus |
| Full Description |
This Cassini view of Enceladus hints at the curvilinear, groove-like features that crisscross the moon's surface, as seen in images from NASA's Voyager spacecraft. The image shows the trailing hemisphere of Enceladus, which is the side opposite the moon's direction of motion in its orbit. Enceladus is 499 kilometers (310 miles) across. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 27, 2004, at a distance of about 766,000 kilometers (476,000 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 34 degrees. The image scale is 4.6 kilometers (2.8 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 Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Candle in the Dark
| Description |
Candle in the Dark |
| Full Description |
Saturn's rings cut across an eerie scene that is ruled by Titan's luminous crescent and globe-encircling haze, broken by the small moon Enceladus, whose icy jets are dimly visible at its south pole. North is up. The scattered light around planet-sized Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) makes the moon's solid surface visible in silhouette. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) enjoys far clearer skies than its giant sibling moon. This view shows the unlit side of Saturn's rings. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 160 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 23 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 32 kilometers (20 miles) on 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 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 3, 2006 |
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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 |
This Voyager 2 photograph of Titan, taken August 23, 1981 from a range of 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles), shows some detail in the cloud systems on this Saturnian moon. The southern hemisphere appears lighter in contrast, a well-defined band is seen near the equator, and a dark collar is evident at the north pole. All these bands are associated with cloud circulation in Titan's atmosphere. The extended haze, composed of submicron-size particles, is seen clearly around the satellite's limb. This image was composed from blue, green and violet frames. For a high resolution image, click here. |
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Watching Atlas's Waistline
| Description |
Watching Atlas's Waistline |
| Full Description |
The Cassini spacecraft finds oddly-shaped Atlas gliding along the edge of the A ring. The moon has a prominent equatorial bulge, which is accentuated here by the grazing viewing angle of Cassini, making Atlas appear pointy. Cassini images revealed in 2004 that a faint ring of material coincides with the orbit of Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across). See The Atlas Ring for more information. This view looks upward, toward the lit side of Saturn's rings. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 30, 2006 at a distance of approximately 283,000 kilometers (176,000 miles) from Atlas. 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 |
August 1, 2006 |
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The Veils of Titan
| 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 |
The veils of Saturn's most mysterious moon have begun to lift in Cassini's eagerly awaited first glimpse of the surface of Titan, a world where scientists believe organic matter rains from hazy skies and seas of liquid hydrocarbons dot a frigid surface. Surface features previously observed only from Earth-based telescopes are now visible in images of Titan taken in mid-April by Cassini through one of the narrow angle camera's spectral filters specifically designed to penetrate the thick atmosphere. The image scale is 230 kilometers (143 miles) per pixel, and it rivals the best Earth-based images. The two images displayed here show Titan from a vantage point 17 degrees below its equator, yielding a view from 50 degrees north latitude all the way to its south pole. The image on the left was taken four days after the image on the right. Titan rotated 90 degrees in that time. The two images combined cover a region extending halfway around the moon. The observed brightness variations suggest a diverse surface, with variations in average reflectivity on scales of a couple hundred kilometers. The images were taken through a narrow filter centered at 938 nanometers, a spectral region in which the only obstacle to light is the carbon-based, organic haze. Despite the rather long 38-second exposure times, there is no noticeable smear due to spacecraft motion. The images have been magnified 10 times and enhanced in contrast to bring out details. No further processing to remove the effects of the overlying atmosphere has been performed. The superimposed grid over the images illustrates the orientation of Titan -- north is up and rotated 25 degrees to the left -- as well as the geographical regions of the satellite that are illuminated and visible. The yellow curve marks the position of the boundary between day and night on Titan. The enhanced image contrast makes the region within 20 degrees of this day and night division darker than usual. The Sun illuminates Titan from the right at a phase angle of 66 degrees. Because the Sun is in the southern hemisphere as seen from Titan, the north pole is canted relative to the boundary between day and night by 25 degrees. Also shown here is a map of relative surface brightness variations on Titan as measured in images taken in the 1080-nanometer spectral region in 1997 and 1998 by the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer on NASA¿s Hubble Space Telescope. These images have scales of 300 kilometers (186 miles) per pixel. The map colors indicate different surface reflectivities. From darkest to brightest, the color progression is: deep blue (darkest), light blue, green, yellow, red and deep red (brightest). The large, continent-sized, red feature extending from 60 degrees to 150 degrees west longitude is called Xanadu. It is unclear whether Xanadu is a mountain range, giant basin, smooth plain, or a combination of all three. It may be dotted with hydrocarbon lakes but that is also unknown. All that, is presently known is that in Earth-based images, it is the brightest region on Titan. A comparison between the Cassini images and the Hubble map indicates that Xanadu is visible as a bright region in the Cassini image on the right. The dark blue northwest-southeast trending feature from 210 degrees to 250 degrees west longitude, and the bright yellow/green region to the east (right) and southeast of it at minus 50 degrees latitude and 180 to 230 degrees west longitude on the Hubble map, can both be seen in the image on the left. It is noteworthy that the surface is visible to Cassini from its present approach viewing geometry, which is not the most favourable for surface viewing. These early Cassini observations are promising for upcoming imaging sequences of Titan in which the resolution improves by a factor of five over the next two months. These results are encouraging for future, in-orbit observations of Titan that will be acquired from lower, more favorable phase angles. The first opportunity to view small-scale features (2 kilometers or 1.2 miles) on the surface comes during a 350,000 kilometer (217,500 mile) flyby over Titan's south pole on July 2, 2004, only 30 hours after Cassini's insertion into orbit around the ringed planet. 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 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 and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Tethys' Great Rift
| Description |
Tethys' Great Rift |
| Full Description |
This dazzling view of Tethys shows the tremendous rift called Ithaca Chasma, which is 100 kilometers (60 miles) wide in places, and runs nearly three-fourths of the way around the icy moon. Tethys is 1,060 kilometers (659 miles) across. Adjacent to the great Chasma is a large multi-ring impact basin with a diameter of about 300 kilometers (185 miles). The inner ring of the basin is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) in diameter. The moon's heavily cratered face is indicative of an ancient surface. This view shows principally the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Tethys. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 15, 2004, at a distance of approximately 560,000 kilometers (348,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 91 degrees. The image scale is about 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 team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. |
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Down Under on Pan
| Description |
Down Under on Pan |
| Full Description |
Hiding within the Encke gap is the small moon Pan, partly in shadow and party cut off by the outer A ring in this view. Similar to Atlas, Pan appears to have a slight ridge around its middle, and like Atlas, Pan's orbit also coincides with a faint ringlet. (See Cruising with Pan for a movie featuring Pan). Pan is 26 kilometers (16 miles) across. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 30, 2006 at a distance of approximately 269,000 kilometers (167,000 miles) from Pan. Image scale is 2 kilometers (5,259 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 |
July 27, 2006 |
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Titan in Natural Color
| 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 |
Despite the views of the surface of Saturn's Titan moon provided by the Cassini spacecraft, the moon remains inscrutable to the human eye. Images taken with the narrow angle camera using red, green and blue color filters were combined to create this view. In true-color images taken in visible wavelengths, Titan's photochemical smog, rich in organic material, gives the moon a smooth, featureless, orange glow. The Cassini orbiter carries specially designed spectral filters that can pierce Titan's veil. Furthermore, its piggybacked Huygens probe will descend through the atmosphere in early 2005, giving an up-close-and-personal look at this mysterious orange moon. The images making up this color view were obtained at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees, and from a distance of approximately 13.1 million kilometers (8.2 million miles) on June 10, 2004. The image scale is approximately 79 kilometers (49 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, 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 and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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World of Contrast
| Description |
World of Contrast |
| Full Description |
This Cassini spacecraft view shows how the bright and dark regions on Iapetus fit together like the seams of a baseball. Some of the material that covers the moon's dark, leading side spills over into regions on the brighter trailing side, creating the feature near upper right referred to by some scientists as "the Moat." (See Iapetus by Saturn Shine for a higher resolution view of this region.) The large impact basin above center in the dark terrain has a diameter of about 550 kilometers (340 miles). This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across). North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Iapetus. Image scale is 9 kilometers (6 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 2, 2006 |
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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. |
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The Huygens probe descends through Titan's murky, brownish-orange atmosphere of nitrogen and carbon-based molecules, beaming its findings to the distant Cassini orbiter. The probe is equipped with a variety of scientific sensors to measure the physical properties of the moon's atmosphere, it also carries an imaging device to return pictures of Titan's possibly hydrocarbon-lake-dotted surface. Painting courtesy of the European Space Agency. (P-42357) |
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Titan¿s Murky Skies
| 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 |
Titan¿s featureless atmosphere as seen in visible light glares back at the viewer, challenging Cassini and its piggybacked Huygens probe to expose the moon's many secrets. The Huygens probe, built by the European Space Agency, along with Cassini's powerful cameras, will soon penetrate the thick atmospheric haze which enshrouds this moon, which is about the size of Mercury. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on May 23, 2004, from a distance of 21.6 million kilometers (13.4 million miles) from Titan. The image scale is 129 kilometers (80 miles) per pixel. The image was magnified 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 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 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 and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Night Lights
| Description |
Night Lights |
| Full Description |
The Cassini spacecraft looks across the unlit ringplane as Mimas glides silently in front of Dione. It is often difficult to tell from two-dimensional views like this where the moons are in relation to each other and Cassini. In this instance, Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is on the side of Saturn closest to Cassini and Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is on the far side of the planet. Dione's night side is dimly lit by reflected light from Saturn. Much of the planet's sunlit side would be visible from the dark terrain seen here on Dione. Saturn's shadow stretches across the rings at the bottom of the image. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 3, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Mimas and 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Dione. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 146 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel on Mimas and 13 kilometers (8 miles) on Dione. 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 |
July 25, 2006 |
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Highest Resolution View of D
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| Description |
Highest Resolution View of Dione |
| Full Description |
This very detailed image taken during the Cassini spacecraft's closest approach to Saturn's moon Dione on Dec. 14, 2004 is centered on the wispy terrain of the moon. To the surprise of Cassini imaging scientists, the wispy terrain does not consist of thick ice deposits, but rather the bright ice cliffs created by tectonic fractures. 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 and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Boosting the Signal
| Description |
Boosting the Signal |
| Full Description |
The ice jets of Enceladus send particles streaming into space hundreds of kilometers above the south pole of this spectacularly active moon. Some of the particles escape to form the diffuse E ring around Saturn. This color-coded image was processed to enhance faint signals, making the contours and extent of the fainter, larger-scale component of the plume easier to see. The bright strip behind and above Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across) is the E ring, in which this intriguing body resides. The small round object at far left is a background star. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 24, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 162 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 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 |
July 21, 2006 |
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Dione and Saturn
| Description |
Dione and Saturn |
| Full Description |
Cassini captured Dione against the globe of Saturn as it approached the icy moon for its close rendezvous on Dec. 14, 2004. This natural color view shows the moon has strong variations in brightness across its surface, but a remarkable lack of color, compared to the warm hues of Saturn's atmosphere. Several oval-shaped storms are present in the planet's atmosphere, along with ripples and waves in the cloud bands. The images used to create this view were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 603,000 kilometers (375,000 miles) from Dione through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of ultraviolet light centered at 338 nanometers. The Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 34 degrees. The image scale is about 32 kilometers (20 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 and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Cassini to Fly by Titan -- T
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| Description |
Cassini to Fly by Titan -- T-17 |
| Full Description |
After revealing a land of bountiful lakes on Cassini's last flyby of Saturn's moon Titan, the journey continues during a flyby on Sept. 7, 2006. + View Flyby Page |
| Date |
September 5, 2006 |
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South Polar Cloud Movie
| Description |
South Polar Cloud Movie |
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This movie sequence of the south polar region of Titan was acquired over an11.5-hour period on Oct. 23, 2004, as the Cassini spacecraft approached its first close encounter with Saturn's smoggy moon. The images were acquired with a near-infrared filter, which sees through the Titan stratospheric haze and reveals surface and lower tropospheric features. Aside from the slow rotation of the planet, a prominent polar cloud field often observed in ground-based images can be seen to evolve over the 11.5-hour period. The cloud evolution is complex and appears to include a general diverging motion. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
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Rhea Releases Enceladus
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Two slim crescents smile toward the Cassini spacecraft following an occultation event. |
| Full Description |
Two slim crescents smile toward the Cassini spacecraft following an occultation event. Taken only five minutes after Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) first approached the limb of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), this view shows the bright little moon emerging from behind the larger moon's crescent. (See Enceladus Approaches for the earlier view.) The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.4 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Rhea and 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 142 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 11 kilometers (7 miles) on Enceladus. 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 7, 2006 |
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Moon With a Warm Heart
| Description |
Moon With a Warm Heart |
| Full Description |
Few large craters are to be found in the wrinkled terrain of Enceladus, where the surface has been reworked by geologic processes presumably resulting from the moon's inner warmth. Cassini spied the bright crescent of Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) on July 23, 2006 at a distance of approximately 628,000 kilometers (391,000 miles). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 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 |
August 22, 2006 |
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