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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance O
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Animations: deployment of an
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9/11/06
NASA 360 Episode 5
This episode of NASA 360 con
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2008
| Description |
This episode of NASA 360 contains updates on Mars. Highlights include: the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, or CRISM, mission as it looks for evidence of water on Mars, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to look at Earth and explore deep space, exploring the "final frontier" of Earth's atmosphere, using satellites to measure the height of the oceans, and the impact of changing sea levels on human civilizations. This video is a NASA eClips (TM) program. |
| Date |
2008 |
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The Heart of Darkness
Some of the coldest and dark
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10/5/09
| Description |
Some of the coldest and darkest dust in space shines brightly in this infrared image from the Herschel Observatory, a European Space Agency mission with important participation from NASA. The image is a composite of light captured simultaneously by two of Herschel's three instruments -- the photodetector array camera and spectrometer with its spectral and photometric imaging receiver. The image reveals a cold and turbulent region where material is just beginning to condense into new stars. It is located in the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, 60 degrees from the center. Blue shows warmer material, red the coolest, while green represents intermediate temperatures. The red filaments are made up of the coldest material pictured here -- material that is slightly warmer than the coldest temperature theoretically attainable in the universe. Image Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL-Caltech |
| Date |
10/5/09 |
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Spirit's Robotic Stretch
NASA's Mars Exploration Rove
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10/22/09
| Description |
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit recorded this forward view of its arm and surroundings during the rover's 2,052nd Martian day, or sol, on Oct. 11, 2009. Bright soil in the left half of the image is loose, fluffy material churned by the rover's left-front wheel as Spirit, driving backwards, approached its current position in April 2009 and the wheel broke through a darker, crusty surface. Spirit used its front hazard-avoidance camera to take this image. The turret of tools at the end of the rover's robotic arm is positioned with the Moessbauer spectrometer up and the rock abrasion tool extending toward the right. Spirit's right-front wheel, visible in this image, has not worked since 2006. It is the least-embedded of the rover's six wheels at the current location, called "Troy." Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, have been working on Mars for more than 58 months in what were originally planned as 3-month missions on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech |
| Date |
10/22/09 |
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The 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbite
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| Description |
The 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001. It will arrive at Mars in October. After a propulsive maneuver into a 25-hour capture orbit, aerobraking will be used over the next 76 days to achieve the 2-hour science orbit. Aerobraking was utilized on the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Polar Orbiter missions. The Orbiter will carry 3 science instruments, the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high- resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment as related to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. |
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Mars 2003 Rover
This artist's rendering show
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7/27/00
| Date |
7/27/00 |
| Description |
This artist's rendering shows a view of NASA's Mars 2003 Rover as it sets off roam the surface of the red planet. The rover is scheduled for launch in June 2003 and will arrive in January 2004, shielded in its landing by an airbag shell. The airbag/lander structure, which has no scientific instruments of its own, is shown to the right in this image, behind the rover. The rover will carry five scientific instruments and rock abrading device. The Panoramic Camera and the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer are located on the large mast shown on the front of the rover. The camera will be supplied by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and the spectrometer will be supplied by Arizona State University in Tempe. The payload also includes magnetic targets, provided by the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, that will collect magnetic dust for further study by the science instruments. The Rock Abrasion Tool is located on a robotic arm that can be deployed to study rocks and soil.(In this view, the robotic arm is tucked under the front of the rover.) The tool, provided by Honeybee Robotics Ltd., New York, N.Y., will grind away the outer surfaces of rocks, which may be dusty and weathered, allowing the science instruments to determine the nature of rock interiors. The three instruments that will study the abraded rocks are a Mossbauer Spectrometer, provided by the Johannes Gutenberg- University Mainz, Germany, an Alpha-Proton X-ray Spectrometer provided by Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, also in Mainz, Germany, and a Microscopic Imager, supplied by JPL. The payload also includes magnetic targets, provided by the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, that will collect magnetic dust for further study by the science instruments. In a landing similar to that of the 1997 Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, a parachute will deploy to slow the spacecraft down and airbags will inflate to cushion the landing. Petals of the landing structure will unfold to release the rover, which will drive off to begin its exploration. JPL manages the Mars 2003 Rover for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY is the lead institution for the science payload. ##### |
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Mars 2003 Rover
This is a close-up view of t
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7/27/00
| Date |
7/27/00 |
| Description |
This is a close-up view of the arm on NASA's Mars 2003 Rover that contains several of the scientific instruments. The Microscopic Imager is being extended toward the rock, the Alpha-Proton X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) is pointing back toward the rover body, the Mossbauer spectrometer is pointing away from the viewer (i.e., toward the rover's left front wheel), and the Rock Abrasion Tool is pointing toward the viewer. The rover is set for launch in June 2003 and will arrive at Mars in January 2004. JPL will manage the Mars 2003 Rover for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY is the lead institution for the science payload. |
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Stardust Trajectory
Stardust, a spacecraft desig
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11/22/95
| Date |
11/22/95 |
| Description |
Stardust, a spacecraft designed to gather samples of dust spewed from a comet and return the dust to Earth for detailed analysis, has been selected to become the fourth flight mission in NASA's Discovery program. The spacecraft, to be launched in February 1999, will also gather and return samples of interstellar dust encountered during its trip through the solar system to fly by Comet Wild-2 in January 2004. Comet Wild-2 is a "fresh comet" because its orbit was deflected from much farther out in the solar system by the gravitational attraction of Jupiter in 1974. Stardust will approach as close as 100 kilometers (62 miles) to the comet's nucleus, capturing cometary samples with an unusual material called aerogel. A return capsule carrying the captured dust samples would parachute to Earth in a landing on a dry Utah lake bed in January 2006. Stardust will also carry an optical camera that should return cometary images with 10 times the clarity of those taken of Halley's Comet by previous space missions. A mass spectrometer provided by Germany also will perform compositional analysis of the samples while in-flight. The Stardust mission team will be led by Principal Investigator Dr. Donald Brownlee of the University of Washington in Seattle, with Lockheed-Martin Astronautics, Denver, as the contractor building the spacecraft. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, will manage the project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### |
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AVIRIS/Malibu Fire
These two images of the Sant
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11/13/96
| Date |
11/13/96 |
| Description |
These two images of the Santa Monica Mountains were taken by NASA's Airborne Visible and Infra-Red Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS). They show changes on the ground caused by the Calabasas/Malibu fire that started on October 21. The image on the left was taken on October 17, four days before the fire. The image on the right was taken on October 23. Scientists and fire agencies are using these images to map the chaparral vegetation in the region to help them understand the potential for future wild fires. The area of the image measures 10 kilometers by 11 kilometers (6.2 miles by 6.8 miles) and is centered near Agoura Hills. The line near the top of the image is the 101 Freeway. In the image on the right, the dark purple region is a portion of the fire scar. The road just to the left of the burn area is Las Virgenes Road. Malibu Lake is the black, arrow-shaped region. Mulholland Highway is the red line just north of Malibu Lake. The bottom part of the image is Malibu Creek State Park. The AVIRIS instrument flies aboard a NASA ER-2 airplane. Earth scientists use AVIRIS to conduct research and applications across a range of scientific disciplines, including ecology, geology, mineral hazards, snow and ice, coastal and inland waters, and wild fires. AVIRIS was developed and is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for NASA's Office of Mission to Planet Earth. ##### |
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Jupiter's Magnetosphere
This image taken on Jan. 4 a
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1/29/01
| Date |
1/29/01 |
| Description |
This image taken on Jan. 4 and 5, 2001, by the ion and neutral mass spectrometer instrument on NASA's Cassini spacecraft makes the huge magnetosphere surrounding Jupiter visible in a way no instrument on any previous spacecraft has been able to do. The magnetosphere is a bubble of charged particles trapped within the magnetic environment of the planet. In this picture, a magnetic field is sketched over the image to place the energetic neutral atom emissions in perspective. This sketch extends in the horizontal plane to a width 30 times the radius of Jupiter. Also shown for scale and location are the disk of Jupiter (black circle) and the approximate position (yellow circles) of the doughnut-shaped torus created from material spewed out by volcanoes on Io, one of Jupiter's large moons. Some of the fast-moving ions within the magnetosphere pick up electrons to become neutral atoms, and once they become neutral, they can escape Jupiter's magnetic field, flying out from the magnetosphere at speeds of thousands of kilometers, or miles, per second. Cassini's instrument for imaging the magnetosphere builds an image from these atoms reaching the spacecraft, analagous to the way a normal camera builds an image from photons. Additional information about Cassini is available online at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini . Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. ##### Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- In the Spacecraft Assembly & Encapsulation Facility --2, workers check the movement of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter as it is carried to the workstand at right. The circular object facing forward on the spacecraft is a high-gain antenna. On the right side is the rectangular solar array assembly. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter carries three science instruments: the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. [The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission.] The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment as related to the radiation- related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Technicians guide The Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) into place to be installed on the Mars Odyssey Orbiter in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 (SAEF 2). The orbiter will carry three science instruments: the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. [The GRS is a rebuild of the instrument lost with the Mars Observer mission.] The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation- related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -- Workers in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility 2 check the placement of the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on the Mars Odyssey Orbiter. THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The orbiter will carry three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. The Mars Odyssey Orbiter is scheduled for launch on April 7, 2001, aboard a Delta 7925 rocket from Launch Pad 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- Workers in the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF 2) get ready to conduct an illumination test on the 2001 Mars Odyssey Orbiter. Various components of the Odyssey Orbiter are undergoing testing. Scheduled for launch April 7, 2001, the orbiter contains three science instruments: THEMIS, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS), and the Mars Radiation Environment Experiment (MARIE). THEMIS will map the mineralogy and morphology of the Martian surface using a high-resolution camera and a thermal infrared imaging spectrometer. The GRS will achieve global mapping of the elemental composition of the surface and determine the abundance of hydrogen in the shallow subsurface. The MARIE will characterize aspects of the near-space radiation environment with regards to the radiation-related risk to human explorers. # # # # # |
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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. -
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| Description |
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. --- At Launch Complex 17-A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, workers begin placing the Delta rocket fairing around the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. NASA's latest explorer carries three scientific instruments to map the chemical and mineralogical makeup of Mars: a thermal-emission imaging system, a gamma ray spectrometer and a Martian radiation environment experiment. The imaging system will map the planet with high-resolution thermal images and give scientists an increased level of detail to help them understand how the mineralogy of the planet relates to the land forms. In addition, Odyssey will serve as a communications relay for U.S. and international landers arriving at Mars in 2003/2004. The Mars Odyssey is scheduled for launch April 7, 2001, at 11:02 a.m. EST. |
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MRPS #80881 (Sol 2) 360 degr
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This photomosaic was taken b
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7/5/97
| Date |
7/5/97 |
| Description |
This photomosaic was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera on July 4, 1997 between 4:00-4:30 p.m. PDT. The foreground is dominated by the lander, newly renamed the Sagan Memorial Station after the late Dr. Carl Sagan. All three petals have been fully deployed. Upon one of the petals is the Sojourner microrover in its stowed position. The metallic cylinders at either end of Sojourner are the rover deployment ramps. Visible at the rear end (right) of the rover is the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument. Located to the right of the center petal is a dark, circular object and a bright, metallic object. Both are components of the high gain antenna. The black post, bull's-eye rings, and small shaded blocks in the far right portion of the image are components of the calibration targets. Terrain of the Ares Vallis region of Mars is in the background. The sections of soil and the large rocks surrounding the lander will provide the rover with numerous opportunities to employ the APXS. The prominent hills in the background will aid scientists in determining the exact site of the spacecraft. The dark blocks at the lower and upper left of the panorama represent gaps in the data transmission to Earth. 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. 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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MRPS #80911 (Sol 2) Rover to
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This picture taken by the IM
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7/5/97
| Date |
7/5/97 |
| Description |
This picture taken by the IMP (Imager for Mars Pathfinder) aboard the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft depicts the rover Sojourner's position after driving onto the Martian surface. Sojourner has become the first autonomous robot ever to traverse the surface of Mars. This image reflects the success of Pathfinder's principle objective -- to place a payload on Mars in a safe, operational configuration. The primary mission of Sojourner, scheduled to last seven days, will be to use its Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to determine the elements that make up the rocks and soil on Mars. A full study using the APXS takes approximately ten hours, and can measure all elements except hydrogen at any time of the Martian day or night. The APXS will conduct its studies by bombarding rocks and soil samples with alpha particle radiation -- charged particles equivalent to the nucleus of a helium atom, consisting of two protons and two neutrons. 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. ##### |
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MRPS #81000 (Sol 4) Sojourne
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Sojourner's first analysis o
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7/7/97
| Date |
7/7/97 |
| Description |
Sojourner's first analysis of a rock on Mars began on Sol 3 with the study of Barnacle Bill, a nearby rock named for its rough surface. The Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) will be used to determine the elements that make up the rocks and soil on Mars. A full study using the APXS takes approximately ten hours, and can measure all elements except hydrogen at any time of the Martian day or night. The APXS will conduct its studies by bombarding rocks and soil samples with alpha particle radiation - - charged particles equivalent to the nucleus of a helium atom, consisting of two protons and two neutrons. The image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) after its deployment on Sol 3. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The 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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MRPS #81008 (Sol 4) Sojourne
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Sojourner is visible in this
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7/7/97
| Date |
7/7/97 |
| Description |
Sojourner is visible in this image, one of the first taken by the deployed Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. The rover has moved from this position into one that later facilitated its using the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument on Barnacle Bill. The APXS, located at the rear of the rover, is not visible in this image. The image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) after its deployment on Sol 3. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The 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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MRPS #81088 (Sol 5) Sojourne
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The image was taken by the I
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7/8/97
| Date |
7/8/97 |
| Description |
The image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 4. The rover Sojourner has traveled to an area of soil and several rocks. Its tracks are clearly visible in the soft soil seen in the foreground, and were made in part by the rover's material abrasion experiment. Scientists were able to control the force of the rover's cleated wheels to help determine the physical properties of the soil. In this image, Sojourner is using its Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument to study an area of soil. Sunlight is striking the area from the left, creating shadows under Sojourner and at the right of local rocks. The large rock Yogi can be seen at upper right. 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 an operating 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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MRPS #81094 (Sol 5) Sojourne
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Sojourner is visible in this
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7/8/97
| Date |
7/8/97 |
| Description |
Sojourner is visible in this color image, one of the first taken by the deployed Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. The rover has moved from this position into one that later facilitated its using the Alpha Proton X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument on Barnacle Bill. The APXS, located at the rear of the rover, is not visible in this image. The image was taken by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) after its deployment on Sol 3. Mars Pathfinder was developed and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. JPL is an operating division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The 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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Europa: Sea Salts or Battery
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This composite image of the
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4/19/00
| Date |
4/19/00 |
| Description |
This composite image of the Jupiter-facing hemisphere of Europa was obtained on November 25, 1999 by two instruments onboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The global black-and-white view, by the spacecraft's camera, provides the highest resolution view ever obtained of this side of Europa. The superimposed false-color image, obtained by Galileo's near-infrared mapping spectrometer instrument, reveals the presence of materials with differing compositions on Europa's surface. In this image, blue areas represent the cleanest, brightest icy surfaces, while the reddest areas have the highest concentrations of darker, non-ice materials. The mixture of colors seen here is most likely the result of both variations in the ages and composition of surface materials. The dark materials are believed to fade with the passage of time. This area is highly unusual compared to many other areas on Europa because of its high concentration of fresh-appearing bright ridges and fractures. On other parts of Europa, the darker areas appear to be the most recently formed, but here the ridges and fractures appear to "overprint" the underlying darker mottled terrain. Scientists disagree about the chemical makeup of the dark materials, both sulfuric acid (common battery acid) and salty minerals, perhaps from a subsurface ocean, have been suggested. Analysis of images like this one may help to resolve this controversy. Surprisingly, either material could help to produce conditions below the surface that could be favorable to the formation of living organisms. The colored area is centered near the intersection of the equator and the Europan "prime meridian," where the longitude is assigned the value of 0 degrees. This is the sub-Jupiter point, where Jupiter always appears to be almost directly overhead. This phenomenon occurs because Europa takes the same period of time to rotate as it does to orbit around Jupiter (3.55 days). The area imaged in color is about 400 by 400 kilometers (250 by 250 miles), an area of about 160,000 square kilometers (about 62,000 square miles). The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the Galileo home page at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov . Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/io/ioimages.html . ##### |
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Lava Flows and Ridged Plains
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The margin of the lava flow
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5/31/00
| Date |
5/31/00 |
| Description |
The margin of the lava flow field associated with the Prometheus volcanic plume on Jupiter's moon Io is seen in this image, acquired by NASA's Galileo spacecraft on February 22, 2000. The image has a resolution of 12 meters (39 feet) per picture element. The dark lava has margins similar to those formed by fluid lava flows on Earth. This entire area is under the active plume of Prometheus, which is constantly raining bright material. Hence, Galileo scientists interpret the darkest flows as being the most recent. They are not yet covered by bright plume fallout and perhaps too warm for bright gas rich in sulphur dioxide to condense. The older plains (upper right) are covered by ridges with an east-west trend. These ridges may have formed by the folding of a surface layer or by deposition or erosion. Bright streaks across the ridged plains emanate from the lava flow margins, perhaps where the hot lava vaporizes sulphur dioxide. The bright material must be ejected at a low angle because it only coats the lava-facing sides of the ridges. North is slightly to the right of straight up. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov . Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/io/ioimages.html . |
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Cartwheel Galaxy Makes Waves
| Title |
Cartwheel Galaxy Makes Waves |
| Description |
This false-color composite image shows the Cartwheel galaxy as seen by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer's Far Ultraviolet detector (blue), the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera-2 in B-band visible light (green), the Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) at 8 microns (red), and the Chandra X-ray Observatory's Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer-S array instrument (purple). Approximately 100 million years ago, a smaller galaxy plunged through the heart of Cartwheel galaxy, creating ripples of brief star formation. In this image, the first ripple appears as an ultraviolet-bright blue outer ring. The blue outer ring is so powerful in the GALEX observations that it indicates the Cartwheel is one of the most powerful UV-emitting galaxies in the nearby universe. The blue color reveals to astronomers that associations of stars 5 to 20 times as massive as our sun are forming in this region. The clumps of pink along the outer blue ring are regions where both X-rays and UV radiation are superimposed in the image. These X-ray point sources are very likely collections of binary star systems containing a blackhole (called Massive X-ray Binary Systems). The X-ray sources seem to cluster around optical/UV bright supermassive star clusters. The yellow-orange inner ring and nucleus at the center of the galaxy result from the combination of visible and infrared light, which is stronger towards the center. This region of the galaxy represents the second ripple, or ring wave, created in the collision, but has much less star for mation activity than the first (outer) ring wave. The wisps of red spread throughout the interior of the galaxy are organic molecules that have been illuminated by nearby low-level star formation. Meanwhile, the tints of green are less massive, older visible light stars. Although astronomers have not identified exactly which galaxy collided with the Cartwheel, two of three candidate galaxies can be seen in this image to the bottom left of the ring, one as a neon blob and the other as a green spiral. Previously, scientists believed the ring marked the outermost edge of the galaxy, but the latest GALEX observations detect a faint disk, not visible in this image, that extends to twice the diameter of the ring. |
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Big Galaxy in Baby Universe
| Title |
Big Galaxy in Baby Universe |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes combined forces to uncover one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. The faraway galaxy, named HUDF-JD2 (in green circles) is not seen in Hubble's visible-light image (upper right), but was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (lower left). It appears even brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths, as revealed by the Spitzer infrared camera (lower right). At visible wavelengths, the light from the galaxy is absorbed by intervening hydrogen gas, and so the galaxy appears faint in the Hubble visible and near-infrared images. The surprise is how bright is appears to Spitzer in the infrared, suggesting a very massive and distant galaxy. |
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Big Galaxy in Baby Universe
| Title |
Big Galaxy in Baby Universe |
| Description |
NASA's Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes combined forces to uncover one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. The faraway galaxy, named HUDF-JD2 (in green circles) is not seen in Hubble's visible-light image (upper right), but was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer (lower left). It appears even brighter at the longer infrared wavelengths, as revealed by the Spitzer infrared camera (lower right). At visible wavelengths, the light from the galaxy is absorbed by intervening hydrogen gas, and so the galaxy appears faint in the Hubble visible and near-infrared images. The surprise is how bright is appears to Spitzer in the infrared, suggesting a very massive and distant galaxy. |
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Ingredients of a Comet
| Title |
Ingredients of a Comet |
| Description |
Astronomers using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Deep Impact mission are putting together a recipe for comet "soup" -- the primordial stuff of planets, comets, and other bodies in our solar system. The comet ingredients were excavated from comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when Deep Impact's probe plunged below its surface. While Deep Impact was busy collecting data up close, other telescopes around the world were also watching from the ground and space. Though the findings are still being analyzed, astronomers are already getting a good taste of our early solar system's history. Spitzer observed the dramatic event using its infrared spectrometer. This instrument breaks apart light like a prism, allowing astronomers to pick out chemical signatures that appear between the wavelengths of 5 and 38 microns. So far, Spitzer has detected clays, iron-containing compounds, carbonates, the minerals in seashells, crystallized silicates, such as the green olivine minerals found on beaches and in the gemstone peridot, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon-containing compounds found in car exhaust and on burnt toast. Hints of the mineral found in the reddish-brown gem spinel were also observed. Deep Impact's spectrometer has picked up the signatures of additional molecules within the wavelength range of 1 to 5 microns, including water vapor and carbon dioxide gas (the swirling vapor that comes off "dry ice"). These "comet soup" ingredients are pictured above: (on plates, from left to right) ice and dry ice, (in measuring cups, from left to right) olivine, smectite clay, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, spinel, metallic iron, (on table in the front, from left to right) the silicate enstatite, the carbonate dolomite, and the iron sulfide marcasite. Materials are courtesy of Dr. George Rossman of the California Institute of Technology's Geology and Planetary Sciences department. |
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How To Make Comet Soup
| Title |
How To Make Comet Soup |
| Description |
Hungry for a comet? Perhaps not, but astronomers using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the Deep Impact mission are putting together a recipe for comet "soup" -- the primordial stuff of planets, comets, and other bodies in our solar system. The comet ingredients were excavated from comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when Deep Impact's probe plunged below its surface. While Deep Impact was busy collecting data up close, other telescopes around the world were also watching from the ground and space. Though the findings are still being analyzed, astronomers are already getting a good taste of our early solar system's history. Spitzer observed the dramatic event using its infrared spectrometer. This instrument breaks apart light like a prism, allowing astronomers to pick out chemical signatures that appear between the wavelengths of 5 and 38 microns. So far, Spitzer has detected clays, iron-containing compounds, carbonates, the minerals in seashells, crystallized silicates, such as the green olivine minerals found on beaches and in the gemstone peridot, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon-containing compounds found in car exhaust and on burnt toast. Hints of the mineral found in the reddish-brown gem spinel were also observed. Deep Impact's spectrometer has picked up the signatures of additional molecules within the wavelength range of 1 to 5 microns, including water vapor and carbon dioxide gas (the swirling vapor that comes off "dry ice"). These "comet soup" ingredients are pictured above: (in the back from left to right) a cup of ice and a cup of dry ice, (in measuring cups in the middle row from left to right) olivine, smectite clay, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, spinel, metallic iron, (in the front row from left to right) the silicate enstatite, the carbonate dolomite, and the iron sulfide marcasite. Materials are courtesy of Dr. George Rossman of the California Institute of Technology's Geology and Planetary Sciences department. |
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Story of Stellar Birth
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Story of Stellar Birth |
| Description |
This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals the complex life cycle of young stars, from their dust-shrouded beginnings to their stellar debuts. The stellar nursery was spotted in a cosmic cloud sitting 21,000 light-years away in the Cepheus constellation. A star is born when a dense patch gas and dust collapses inside a cosmic cloud. In the first million years of a star's life, it is hidden from visible-light view by the cloud that created it. Eventually as the star matures, its strong winds and radiation blow away surrounding material and the star fully reveals itself to the universe. The first stages of stellar life are represented by the greenish yellow dot located in the center of the image (just to the right of the blue dot). Astronomers suspect that this source is less than a million years old because spectra of the region (right bottom graph) reveal a deep absorption feature due to silicate dust (crushed crystalline grains that are smaller than sand) indicating that the star is still deeply embedded inside the cosmic cloud that collapsed to form it. Wisps of green surrounding the star and its nearby environment illustrate the presence of hot hydrogen gas. Above and to the left of the central greenish yellow dot, a large, bright pinkish dot reveals a more mature star on the verge of emerging from its natal cocoon. Although this star is still shrouded by its birth material, astronomers use Spitzer, a temperature-sensitive infrared telescope, to see the surrounding gas and dust that is being heated up by the star. The region's oldest and fully exposed stars can be seen as bunches of blue specks located just left of the concave ridge. Energetic particles and ultraviolet photons from nearby star clusters etched this arc into the cloud by blowing away surrounding dust and gas. Spectral observations of the ridge (right top graph) and reddish-white dot, or "mature star" (right middle graph), indicate the presence of carbon rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are found on barbecue grills and in automobile exhaust on Earth. The featured image is a four-channel false-color composite, where blue indicates emission at 3.6 microns, green corresponds to 4.5 microns, and red to 5.8 and 8.0 microns. The image was taken by Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). Spectra of the region were obtained with the telescope's Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) instrument. |
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Story of Stellar Birth
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Story of Stellar Birth |
| Description |
This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals the complex life cycle of young stars, from their dust-shrouded beginnings to their stellar debuts. The stellar nursery was spotted in a cosmic cloud sitting 21,000 light-years away in the Cepheus constellation. A star is born when a dense patch gas and dust collapses inside a cosmic cloud. In the first million years of a star's life, it is hidden from visible-light view by the cloud that created it. Eventually as the star matures, its strong winds and radiation blow away surrounding material and the star fully reveals itself to the universe. The first stages of stellar life are represented by the greenish yellow dot located in the center of the image (just to the right of the blue dot). Astronomers suspect that this source is less than a million years old because spectra of the region (right bottom graph) reveal a deep absorption feature due to silicate dust (crushed crystalline grains that are smaller than sand) indicating that the star is still deeply embedded inside the cosmic cloud that collapsed to form it. Wisps of green surrounding the star and its nearby environment illustrate the presence of hot hydrogen gas. Above and to the left of the central greenish yellow dot, a large, bright pinkish dot reveals a more mature star on the verge of emerging from its natal cocoon. Although this star is still shrouded by its birth material, astronomers use Spitzer, a temperature-sensitive infrared telescope, to see the surrounding gas and dust that is being heated up by the star. The region's oldest and fully exposed stars can be seen as bunches of blue specks located just left of the concave ridge. Energetic particles and ultraviolet photons from nearby star clusters etched this arc into the cloud by blowing away surrounding dust and gas. Spectral observations of the ridge (right top graph) and reddish-white dot, or "mature star" (right middle graph), indicate the presence of carbon rich molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are found on barbecue grills and in automobile exhaust on Earth. The featured image is a four-channel false-color composite, where blue indicates emission at 3.6 microns, green corresponds to 4.5 microns, and red to 5.8 and 8.0 microns. The image was taken by Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC). Spectra of the region were obtained with the telescope's Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) instrument. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
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This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
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| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Spitzer and Hubble Team Up T
…
| Title |
Spitzer and Hubble Team Up To Find 'Big Baby' Galaxies in the Newborn Universe |
| Description |
This image demonstrates how data from two of NASA's Great Observatories, the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, are used to identify one of the most distant galaxies ever seen. This galaxy is unusually massive for its youthful age of 800 million years. (After the Big Bang, the Milky Way by comparison, is approximately 13 billion years old.) [Left] - The galaxy, named HUDF-JD2, was pinpointed among approximately 10,000 others in a small area of sky called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This is the deepest images of the universe ever made at optical and near-infrared wavelengths. [Upper Right] - A blow-up of one small area of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field is used to identify where the distant galaxy is located (inside green circle). This indicates that the galaxy's visible light has been absorbed by traveling billions of light-years through intervening hydrogen. [Center Right] - The galaxy was detected using Hubble's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer. But at near-infrared wavelengths it is very faint and red. [Bottom Right] - The Spitzer infrared array camera, easily detects the galaxy at longer infrared wavelengths. The instrument is sensitive to the light from older, redder stars which should make up most of the mass in a galaxy. The brightness of the infrared galaxy suggests that it is quite massive. |
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Wanted: Galactic Thief Who S
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Wanted: Galactic Thief Who Steals Gas |
| Description |
A big galaxy is stealing gas right off the "back" of its smaller companion in this new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The stolen gas is hot, but it might eventually cool down to make new stars and planets. The robber galaxy, called 3C 326 North, and its victim, 3C 326 South, are located about a billion light-years away from Earth in the Serpens constellation. They are both called radio galaxies, because the relativistic jets streaming out of their centers give off a great deal of radio waves. Other dots in the picture are foreground stars and background galaxies. When astronomers first collected data on the 3C 326 galaxies with Spitzer's infrared spectrometer, they were surprised to find that 3C 326 North is loaded with an enormous amount of hot gas, called molecular hydrogen gas, which is fuel for stars and planets. They then studied this archived picture taken with Spitzer's infrared array camera and noticed a tail of stars connecting 3C 326 North to 3C 326 South. This tail revealed that the galactic pair are gravitationally tangled and might eventually merge ? and that 3C 326 North must be hoisting gas from its smaller companion. How is 3C 326 stealing the gas? The answer is gravity. The larger 3C 326 North, which is about the same mass as our Milky Way galaxy, has more gravity so the gas from 3C 326 South falls toward it in the same way that water rolls down hill on Earth. Even in space, it seems the bullies are bigger! This image shows infrared light of three wavelengths: 8-micron light is red, 4.5 microns is green, 3.6 microns is blue. |
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Evidence for Strange Stellar
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Evidence for Strange Stellar Family |
| Description |
This artist concept depicts a quadruple-star system called HD 98800. The system is approximately 10 million years old, and is located 150 light-years away in the constellation TW Hydrae. HD 98800 contains four stars, which are paired off into doublets, or binaries. The stars in the binary pairs orbit around each other, and the two pairs also circle each other like choreographed ballerinas. One of the stellar pairs, called HD 98800B, has a disk of dust around it, while the other pair does not. Although the four stars are gravitationally bound, the distance separating the two binary pairs is about 50 astronomical units (AU) -- slightly more than the average distance between our sun and Pluto. Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists finally have a detailed view of HD 98800B's potential planet-forming disk. Astronomers used the telescope's infrared spectrometer to detect the presence of two belts in the disk made of large dust grains. One belt sits approximately 5.9 AU away from the central binary, or about the distance from the sun to Jupiter, and is likely made up of asteroids and comets. The other belt sits at 1.5 to 2 AU, comparable to the area where Mars and the asteroid belt sit, and consists of fine dust grains. |
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Gas Giants Form Quickly
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Gas Giants Form Quickly |
| Description |
This is an artist's concept of a hypothetical 10-million-year-old star system. The bright blur at the center is a star much like our sun. The other orb in the image is a gas-giant planet like Jupiter. Wisps of white throughout the image represent traces of gas. Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have found evidence showing that gas-giant planets either form within the first 10 million years of a sun-like star's life, or not at all. The lifespan for sun-like stars is about 10 billion years. The scientists came to this conclusion after searching for traces of gas around 15 different sun-like stars, most with ages ranging from 3 million to 30 million years. With the help of Spitzer's Infrared Spectrometer instrument, they were able to search for relatively warm gas in the inner regions of these star systems, an area comparable to the zone between Earth and Jupiter in our own solar system. They also used ground-based radio telescopes to search for cooler gas in the outer regions of these systems, an area comparable to the zone around Saturn and beyond. |
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NASA Connect - AATC - Future
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NASA Connect Segment explori
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3/2/05
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NASA Connect Segment exploring new and future technology to help meteorologists predict hurricanes and other severe weather. The video explores GIFTS, or geostationary satellites, and other developing technologies at NASA. |
| Date |
3/2/05 |
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NASA Connect - Ahead Above T
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NASA Connect Video containin
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3/2/05
| Description |
NASA Connect Video containing five segments as described below. NASA Connect Segment exploring new and future technology to help meteorologists predict hurricanes and other severe weather. The video explores GIFTS, or geostationary satellites, and other developing technologies at NASA. NASA Connect Segment explaining what hurricane hunters do and how they do it. The video explores the instruments they use to collect data from a hurricane and the types of data collected such as temperature, moisture, air pressure and wind. NASA Connect Segment explaining software tools and products that use interactivity to network NASA research data. The video describes dynamic websites that use visualization, simulation, and remote sensing tools to help students study hurricanes. NASA Connect Segment explaining the fundamentals of hurricanes and how meteorologists predict hurricanes. The video also features a meteorologists from The Weather Channel to explain how data is collected and how hurricanes are predicted. NASA Connect Segment involving students in an activity that uses a game called the Imperfect Storm. Students must track a hurricane, predict the probability of landfall, and issue watches and warnings. |
| Date |
3/2/05 |
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NASA Connect - Geometry of E
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NASA Connect Video containin
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1/1/00
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NASA Connect Video containing six segments as described below. NASA Connect Segment involving students in a classroom activity that measures shadows and uses geometry to determine sizes of angles. NASA Connect Segment explaining questions about Erastothenes, the Earth's circumference, parallel lines, angle relationships, and a transversal. NASA Connect Segment featuring an online activity to show students how to design a planetary observer like the Mars Global Surveyor. NASA Connect Segment explaining surveying and how surveyors use geometry. NASA Connect Segment exploring how the Mars Global Surveyor works and how students survey Mars by using shadows, angles, and geometry. The video also explains how land formations are measured on Mars. NASA Connect Segment explaining how NASA scientists survey Mars with the Mars Global Surveyor. The video also explains aerobraking and how geometry influences this. |
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1/1/00 |
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NASA Destination Tomorrow -
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NASA Destination Tomorrow Se
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6/1/03
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NASA Destination Tomorrow Segment describing GIFTS (Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer), the future of weather satellite technology which stands to aid in the understanding of weather processes, climate, atmospheric pollution, and severe |
| Date |
6/1/03 |
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NASA Destination Tomorrow -
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NASA Destination Tomorrow Vi
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6/1/03
| Description |
NASA Destination Tomorrow Video containing five segments as described below. NASA Destination Tomorrow Segment describing GIFTS (Geostationary Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer), the future of weather satellite technology which stands to aid in the u |
| Date |
6/1/03 |
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NASA Connect - EOM - Planeta
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NASA Connect Segment featuri
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1/1/00
| Description |
NASA Connect Segment featuring an online activity to show students how to design a planetary observer like the Mars Global Surveyor. |
| Date |
1/1/00 |
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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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An Infrared Movie 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 |
This movie of Titan shows data taken with Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer during the last three flybys of Titan. The flybys took place on Oct. 28, 2005, Dec. 26, 2005, and Jan. 15, 2006. These false-color images were taken at wavelengths of 1.6 microns shown in blue, 2.01 microns in green and 5 microns in red. The viewing geometry of the December flyby is roughly on the opposite hemispheres of the flybys in October and January. There are several important features shown by the movie. First, the globe of Titan exhibits two major types of terrain. One is very bright, and a darker one seems to be concentrated near the equator. Titan also has two very bright regions, the large one known as Tui Reggio, and the other as Hotei Arcus. These regions are thought to be surface deposits, probably of volcanic origin, and may be water and/or carbon dioxide frozen from the vapor. The December flyby data show that the western margins of Tui Reggio have a complex flow-like structure consistent with eruptive phenomena. The reddish feature at the south pole is Titan¿s south polar cloud system, which was very bright during the December flyby. During the October and January flybys it is barely visible, indicating that the atmosphere over titan's south pole is very dynamic. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Titan's surface revealed
| 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 |
Piercing the ubiquitous layer of smog enshrouding Titan, these images from the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer reveals an exotic surface covered with a variety of materials in the southern hemisphere. Using near-infrared colors--some three times deeper in the red visible to the human eye--these images reveal the surface with unusual clarity. The left image shows a variety of surface features at a wavelength of 2.0 microns. The darker areas are possibly regions of relatively pure water ice, while the brighter regions likely have a much higher amount of non-ice materials such as simple hydrocarbons. The middle image measured at a wavelength of 2.8 microns shows a very dark surface almost everywhere, as expected for a surface of water ice and simple hydrocarbons. The image on the right, taken at 5.0 microns, is similar to the left image, indicating dark icy regions and brighter hydrocarbon-rich materials. A bright cloud of methane particles is apparent in all three images near the south pole. It's persistence over an extensive range of colors indicates that these cloud particles are large compared to the typical haze particles surrounding the planet, suggesting a dynamically active atmosphere near the South Pole. Color was used to enhance the various wavelengths. 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 visible and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For more information about the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Glowing 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 glow of Titan's extensive atmosphere shines in false colors in this view of Saturn's gas-enshrouded moon acquired by the Cassini spacecraft visual and infrared mapping spectrometer during the July 2, 2004, flyby. While flying over the terminator, where Titan's day and night meet, both the dayside and night sides are seen at various wavelengths. In these views of the crescent moon, the sunlit side is on the left and the nightside on the right. The blue image shows the sunlit crescent as observed at a wavelength that pierces through the thick atmosphere to show only the surface. This image is much smaller than the other three images to the right, because it does not show any atmospheric affects. In contrast, the green image shows the immense size of Titan's atmosphere. This is revealed by the fluorescent glow of methane gas, which extends over 700 kilometers (435 miles) above the surface, showing that the atmosphere nearly doubles the size of Titan. This glow is at a wavelength of 3.3 microns, five times the wavelength visible to the human eye. The red image shows that Titan also glows at night, which initially surprised scientists. The moon glows out to more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) in altitude, indicating carbon-monoxide emission at the 4.7 micron wavelength produced in Titan's relatively warm stratosphere. The multicolor image on the far right combines the three previous images into one composite. Here it is seen that the carbon monoxide glow extends over the dayside as well, producing the yellow layer observed on the left. This is because the two glows, one from methane (green) and carbon monoxide (red) mix together to form yellow in this multi-color composite. Titan's surface is indicated by the circle. Titan's surface appears purple due to the mixing of the blue and red surface images. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For more information about the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Glowing 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 glow of Titan's extensive atmosphere shines in false colors in this view of Saturn's gas-enshrouded moon acquired by the Cassini spacecraft visual and infrared mapping spectrometer during the July 2, 2004, flyby. This image is a combination of near-infrared colors, each of which probes different phenomena in the moon. From its vantage point over Titan's terminator, both the dayside and nightside of the crescent moon are seen, with the sunlit side on the left. In this false color rendition, green light is the fluorescent emission of methane gas powered by sunlight, at a wavelength of 3.3 microns. This is some five times the wavelength visible to the human eye. The glow extends over 700 kilometers (435 miles) above the surface, revealing the unusual thickness of the moon's atmosphere, which nearly doubles Titan's volume compared to the volume of the solid sphere, indicated by the solid line. On the nightside (right side), the moon glows red out for over 200 kilometers (125 miles) altitude, indicating carbon-monoxide emission at 4.7 micron wavelength produced in Titan's relatively warm stratosphere. This glow actually extends over the dayside as well, producing the yellow layer observed on the left as the two glows from methane (green) and carbon monoxide (red) mix together in this rendition. Titan's surface is indicated by the circle determined by a surface image at 2.0 microns (blue), which is unaffected by atmospheric glows showing the sunlit surface. Here, due to the reddish glow of carbon monoxide overlying the blue-colored surface, most of the dayside appears purplish in color. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visible and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For more information about the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Titan's surface revealed
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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 |
Piercing the ubiquitous layer of smog enshrouding Titan, these images from the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer reveals an exotic surface covered with a variety of materials in the southern hemisphere. Using near-infrared colors--some three times deeper in the red visible to the human eye--these images reveal the surface with unusual clarity. The color image shows a false-color combination of the three previous images. 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 visible and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For more information about the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer visit http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu/. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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