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High Latitude Mottling on Ju
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The familiar banded appearan
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12/18/00
| Date |
12/18/00 |
| Description |
The familiar banded appearance of Jupiter at low and middle latitudes gradually gives way to a more mottled appearance at high latitudes in this striking true color image taken Dec. 13, 2000, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The intricate structures seen in the polar region are clouds of different chemical composition, height and thickness. Clouds are organized by winds, and the mottled appearance in the polar regions suggests more vortex-type motion and winds of less vigor at higher latitudes. The cause of this difference is not understood. One possible contributor is that the horizontal component of the Coriolis force, which arises from the planet's rotation and is responsible for curving the trajectories of ocean currents and winds on Earth, has its greatest effect at high latitudes and vanishes at the equator. This tends to create small, intense vortices at high latitudes on Jupiter. Another possibility may lie in that fact that Jupiter overall emits nearly as much of its own heat as it absorbs from the Sun, and this internal heat flux is very likely greater at the poles. This condition could lead to enhanced convection at the poles and more vortex-type structures. Further analysis of Cassini images, including analysis of sequences taken over a span of time, should help us understand the cause of equator-to-pole differences in cloud organization and evolution. By the time this picture was taken, Cassini had reached close enough to Jupiter to allow the spacecraft to return images with more detail than what's possible with the planetary camera on NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The resolution here is 114 kilometers (71 miles) per pixel. This contrast- enhanced, edge-sharpened frame was composited from images take at different wavelengths with Cassini's narrow-angle camera, from a distance of 19 million kilometers (11.8 million miles). The spacecraft was in almost a direct line between the Sun and Jupiter, so the solar illumination on Jupiter is almost full phase. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona # # # # # |
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Colorized View of Zal Region
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This image shows one of many
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5/31/00
| Date |
5/31/00 |
| Description |
This image shows one of many intriguing mountains on Jupiter's moon Io. The image was made by combining a recent high- resolution, black and white image with earlier low-resolution color data to provide a high-resolution, color view. NASA's Galileo spacecraft took both images. The 240-kilometer (150-mile) long mountain in the image is south of the volcanic hot spot named Zal. The black and white version of this image was useful for showing the shape of the mountain and the small fans of debris piled against the base of its tall, steep cliffs. However, when colorized the relationship between different types of materials becomes apparent. For example, the bright, red material is believed to contain a compound of sulfur that forms when sulfur is boiled at a high temperature. Active eruptions of molten rock (lava) are the most likely source for the heat. Thus we see red sulfur where lava reaches the surface. Other sulfur compounds cover the yellow areas, and the black areas are fresh silicate lava that has not yet been coated by the yellow sulfurous materials. The green patches are still somewhat mysterious, they appear to form when red sulfur lands on warm lava and the two react in a manner that is still unknown. In this image, it is clear that the red material has blown out of a long crack along the western side of the mountain. Lava has flowed from this crack and filled a depression (caldera). Some of the red sulfur close to the dark caldera appears to have been converted into green material. The fact that lava comes up along the faults that define the sides of the mountains provides important clues to how the mountains form and the state of the interior of Io. Scientists at the University of Arizona speculate that the formation of the mountains on Io may be related to plumes of hot material rising inside the fiery body of Io. North is to the top and the setting sun is shining from the west. The image is centered at about 33 degrees north, 72 degrees west. The high-resolution image was taken on February 22, 2000 by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The image was taken by the Galileo's onboard camera from a range of 33,500 kilometers (20,800 miles) and has a resolution of 335 meters (1,100 feet) per picture element. The color images were taken on July 3, 1999. They have resolutions of 1.3 kilometers (0.81 miles) per picture element and are illuminated from almost directly behind the spacecraft. They were taken at a distance of about 130,000 kilometers (81,000 miles) from Io. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the 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 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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Ganymede dark terrain at hig
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Impact craters dominate the
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12/16/00
| Date |
12/16/00 |
| Description |
Impact craters dominate the surface down to the smallest features visible on the dark terrain of the Nicholson Regio region of Jupiter's moon Ganymede in this image taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. It is the highest resolution view ever obtained of Ganymede's dark terrain. Both the regional-scale image at the bottom and high- resolution image at the top were taken by Galileo during its May 20, 2000, flyby of Ganymede. The latter are the highest resolution images ever obtained of Ganymede's dark terrain, which makes up about one third of Ganymede's surface. Impact cratering is clearly the dominant mechanism of surface modification in this relatively ancient terrain, which is analogous to the cratered highlands of Earth's Moon. Small- scale craters seem to mimic larger-scale craters, as is apparent in the similarities between the high and medium resolution scenes. The bright spots are probably fresh ice-rich ejecta excavated by the most recent impact events. North is to the top of the images and the Sun illuminates the surface from the west. The medium-resolution image, centered at –15 degrees latitude and 337 degrees longitude, covers an area approximately 237 by 130 kilometers (147 by 81 miles) at a resolution of 125 meters (410 feet) per picture element. The high-resolution image is at 28 meters (92 feet) per picture element. This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the Galileo mission home page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo . Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, in Pasadena, manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The images were produced by Arizona State University, Tempe, and Brown University, Providence, R.I.. Their websites are at http://europa.la.asu.edu/index.html and http://www.planetary.brown.edu/ . # # # # # |
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Neutral Gas Cloud Around Tit
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| Description |
Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn. |
| Full Description |
Images from the magnetospheric imaging instrument and the ion and neutral camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal aspects of the interactions between Saturn's dynamic population of hot energetic ions and the clouds of cold neutral atoms. Future observations may further explain the relationships between these interactions. The most recent image of Titan reveals the emission of high-speed neutral atoms from a globular region approximately 70,000 kilometers (43,496 miles) in diameter, clearly centered on Titan. It is only 1/25 as bright as the region seen toward dawn during Saturn orbit insertion, even though Cassini is now closer to Titan. There is an extended emission region around the Titan cloud, but it is much dimmer than the Titan cloud itself and even dimmer compared to the emission seen in the dawn direction at orbit insertion. In this image, the X marks the direction toward the Sun, the Y marks the direction toward Saturn's dawn, and the Z marks Saturn's rotation axis. The dot in the center marks Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The magnetospheric imaging instrument team is based at Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, Md. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://sd-www.jhuapl.edu/CASSINI/index.html . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/JHU/APL/Max-Plank-Institut f¿r Aeronomie/University of Maryland/University of Kansas/University of Arizona/CESR/Bell Laboratories |
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Titan Descent Data Movie wit
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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 movie, built with data collected during the European Space Agency's Huygens probe on Jan. 14, 2005, shows the operation of the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer camera during its descent and after touchdown. The camera was funded by NASA. The almost four-hour-long operation of the camera is shown in less than five minutes. That's 40 times the actual speed up to landing and 100 times the actual speed thereafter. The first part of the movie shows how Titan looked to the camera as it acquired more and more images during the probe's descent. Each image has a small field of view, and dozens of images were made into mosaics of the whole scene. The scientists analyzed Huygens' speed, direction of motion, rotation and swinging during the descent. The movie includes sidebar graphics that show: * (Lower left corner) Huygens' trajectory views from the south, a scale bar for comparison to the height of Mount Everest, colored arrows that point to the sun and to the Cassini orbiter. * (Top left corner) A close-up view of the Huygens probe highlighting large and unexpected parachute movements, a scale bar for comparison to human height. * (Lower right corner) A compass that shows the changing direction of view as Huygens rotates, along with the relative positions of the sun and Cassini. * (Upper right corner) A clock that shows Universal Time for Jan. 14, 2005 (Universal Time is 7 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time). Above the clock, events are listed in mission time, which starts with the deployment of the first of the three parachutes. Sounds from a left speaker trace Huygens' motion, with tones changing with rotational speed and the tilt of the parachute. There also are clicks that clock the rotational counter, as well as sounds for the probe's heat shield hitting Titan's atmosphere, parachute deployments, heat shield release, jettison of the camera cover and touchdown. Sounds from a right speaker go with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer activity. There's a continuous tone that represents the strength of Huygens' signal to Cassini. Then there are 13 different chimes - one for each of instrument's 13 different science parts - that keep time with flashing-white-dot exposure counters. During its descent, the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer took 3,500 exposures. The Huygens probe was delivered to Saturn's moon Titan by the Cassini spacecraft, which is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. NASA supplied two instruments on the probe, the descent imager/spectral radiometer and the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. 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 descent imager/spectral radiometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For, more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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Saturn's Rings in Infrared
| Description |
Saturn's Rings in Infrared |
| Full Description |
This mosaic of Saturn's rings was acquired by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer instrument on Sept. 15, 2006, while the spacecraft was in the shadow of the planet looking back towards the rings from a distance of 2.16 million kilometers (1.34 million miles). Data at wavelengths of 1.0 micron, 1.75 micron and 3.6 microns were combined in the blue, green and red channels to make the pseudo-color image shown here. The brightest feature in the mosaic is the F ring, located at the outer edge of the main rings. The F ring is overexposed and appears white in this image. Of the main A, B and C rings, the C ring is the most prominent and reddish in color, becoming saturated close to the sun. The more opaque A and B rings are muddy in color and very dark in this geometry. By contrast, the normally faint D ring, located just interior to the C ring, is quite bright and blue, indicating the presence of very small ring particles. Similarly, a narrow, green ringlet in the Cassini Division, as well as the greenish G ring and blue E ring -- located at increasing distances outside the F ring -- are predominantly composed of small particles. The faint reddish band immediately outside the F ring is likely to be an artifact caused by the extremely bright F ring. 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 visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona where this image was produced. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
October 11, 2006 |
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Saturn's Silhouetted Clouds
| Description |
Saturn's Silhouetted Clouds |
| Full Description |
This false-color mosaic of Saturn shows deep-level clouds silhouetted against Saturn's glowing interior. The image was made with data from Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, which can image the planet at 352 different wavelengths. This mosaic shows the entire planet, including features like Saturn's ring shadows and the terminator, the boundary between day and night. The data were obtained in February 2006 at a distance of 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from directly over the plane of Saturn's rings, which appear here as a thin, blue line over the equator. The image was constructed from images taken at wavelengths of 1.07 microns shown in blue, 2.71 microns shown in green, and 5.02 microns shown in red. The blue-green color (lower right) is sunlight scattered off clouds high in Saturn's atmosphere and the red color (upper left) is the glow of thermal radiation from Saturn's warm interior, easily seen on Saturn's night side (top left), within the shadow of the rings, and with somewhat less contrast on Saturn's day side (bottom right). The darker areas within Saturn show the strongest thermal radiation. The bright red color indicates areas where Saturn's atmosphere is relatively clear. The great variety of cloud shapes and sizes reveals a surprisingly active planet below the overlying sun-scattering haze. The brighter glow of the northern hemisphere versus the southern indicates that the clouds and hazes there are noticeably thinner than those in the south. Scientists speculate that this is a seasonal effect, and if so, it will change as the northern hemisphere enters springtime during the next few years. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona where this image was produced. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm . The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
October 5, 2006 |
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Neon Saturn
| Description |
Neon Saturn |
| Full Description |
Flying over the unlit side of Saturn's rings, the Cassini spacecraft captures Saturn's glow, represented in brilliant shades of electric blue, sapphire and mint green, while the planet's shadow casts a wide net on the rings. This striking false-color mosaic was created from 25 images taken by Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer over a period of 13 hours, and captures Saturn in nighttime and daytime conditions. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer acquires data simultaneously at 352 different wavelengths, or spectral channels. Data at wavelengths of 2.3, 3.0 and 5.1 microns were combined in the blue, green and red channels of a standard color image, respectively, to make this false-color mosaic. This image was acquired on Feb. 24, 2007, while the spacecraft was 1.58 million kilometers (1 million miles) from the planet and 34.6 degrees above the ring plane. The solar phase angle was 69.5 degrees. In this view, Cassini was looking down on the northern, unlit side of the rings, which are rendered visible by sunlight filtering through from the sunlit, southern face. On the night side (right side of image), with no sunlight, Saturn's own thermal radiation lights things up. This light at 5.1 microns wavelength (some seven times the longest wavelength visible to the human eye) is generated deep within Saturn, and works its way upward, eventually escaping into space. Thick clouds deep in the atmosphere block that light. An amazing array of dark streaks, spots, and globe-encircling bands is visible instead. Saturn's strong thermal glow at 5.1 microns even allows these deep clouds to be seen on portions of the dayside (left side), especially where overlying hazes are thin and the glint of the sun off of them is minimal. These deep clouds are likely made of ammonium hydrosulfide and cannot be seen in reflected light on the dayside, since the glint of the sun on overlying hazes and ammonia clouds blocks the view of this level. A pronounced difference in the brightness between the northern and southern hemispheres is apparent. The northern hemisphere is about twice as bright as the southern hemisphere. This is because high-level, fine particles are about half as prevalent in the northern hemisphere as in the south. These particles block Saturn's glow more strongly, making Saturn look brighter in the north. At 2.3 microns (shown in blue), the icy ring particles are highly reflecting, while methane gas in Saturn's atmosphere strongly absorbs sunlight and renders the planet very dark. At 3.0 microns (shown in green), the situation is reversed: water ice in the rings is strongly absorbing, while the planet's sunlit hemisphere is bright. Thus the rings appear blue in this representation, while the sunlit side of Saturn is greenish-yellow in color. Within the rings, the most opaque parts appear dark, while the more translucent regions are brighter. In particular, the opaque, normally-bright B ring appears here as a broad, dark band, separating the brighter A (outer) and C (inner) rings. At 5.1 microns (shown in red), reflected sunlight is weak and thus light from the planet is dominated by thermal (i.e., heat) radiation that wells up from the planet's deep atmosphere. This thermal emission dominates Saturn's dark side as well as the north polar region (where the hexagon is again visible) and the shadow cast by the A and B rings. Variable amounts of clouds in the planet's upper atmosphere block the thermal radiation, leading to a speckled and banded appearance, which is ever-shifting due to the planet's strong winds. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, where this image was produced. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. *Credit:* NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
May 31, 2007 |
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Cat's eye rings and peek-a-b
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| Description |
On Aug. 16, 2006, as the Cassini orbiter flew directly between the sun and Saturn, its Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer captured a sequence of images that vividly show this opposition brightening. |
| Full Description |
Astronomers have long known that Saturn's rings reflect sunlight most strongly when Earth is located directly between Saturn and the sun. Flat, shiny surfaces (like a mirror or a pond) can appear particularly bright when light reflects off them in a certain direction. Scientists call this "specular reflection," from the Latin word for mirror. However, even rough surfaces, like those of Earth's moon or Saturn's rings, can appear bright when the source of light is directly behind the observer's head, no matter what the orientation of the surface is. This latter phenomenon is known as the "opposition effect." Spectacular examples include the eyes of a cat, which seem to glow brightly when they are illuminated by a flashlight, or highway signs and reflectors that "light up" when they are caught in a car's headlights. On Aug. 16, 2006, as the Cassini orbiter flew directly between the sun and Saturn, its Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer captured a sequence of images that vividly show this opposition brightening. Combined here into a mosaic, the images show -- from left to right -- a small, bright spot moving from the outermost B ring across the Cassini Division and all the way across the A ring. In each image, this spot is centered on the point in the rings directly opposite the sun. Theoretical models for the opposition effect suggest that it can be explained by light being scattered several times within the surfaces of individual, transparent, icy ring particles on scales of about 40 micrometers, or 1/500th of an inch. Similar effects are seen in laboratory studies of bright, finely-textured material such as snow or sugar crystals. In this mosaic, blue colors highlight the icy rings (2.35 microns), green represents sunlight reflected by the clouds of Saturn (2.86 microns) and red depicts thermal emission from the planet's interior (5.02 microns). The rings were observed while they were in front of the planet, producing a complex interplay of sunlight reflected from the rings and the shadows cast by the rings on the cloud tops of Saturn. The yellow-green sunlit clouds of Saturn are seen in the upper right corner of the mosaic beyond the outer edge of the A ring, and also through the 4,000-kilometer-wide (2,400 mile) Cassini Division in the left third of the mosaic. (Yellow indicates a mixture of reflected sunlight and thermal emission.) The shadowed regions of the planet, on the other hand, appear deep red because only thermal emission produced deep inside Saturn itself is visible. At exact opposition, the shadows of the rings are hidden behind the rings themselves, but away from this point shadows can be seen peeking out from behind the edges of the A and B rings into the Cassini Division, as well as beyond the outer edge of the A ring. If one looks closely, one can even trace the A ring's shadow behind the partly transparent A ring, as a faint purple band. Within this band, a thin blue-green line crossing obliquely behind the A ring is, caused by sunlight passing through the narrow Encke Gap in the outer A ring. The Cassini spacecraft was at a distance of 254,000 kilometers (157,800 miles) from the center of Saturn when these images were taken, while the opening angle of the rings to the sun was 16.3 degrees. The image scale at the rings is approximately 70 kilometers (40 miles) per pixel. All nine images were taken over a period of 27 minutes, and the vertical dimension of the mosaic is 1.8 degrees. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, where this image was produced. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team home page is at: http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
June 26, 2007 |
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Cat's eye rings and peek-a-b
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| Description |
On Aug. 16, 2006, as the Cassini orbiter flew directly between the sun and Saturn, its Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer captured a sequence of images that vividly show this opposition brightening. |
| Full Description |
See also the non-annotated version. Astronomers have long known that Saturn's rings reflect sunlight most strongly when Earth is located directly between Saturn and the sun. Flat, shiny surfaces (like a mirror or a pond) can appear particularly bright when light reflects off them in a certain direction. Scientists call this "specular reflection," from the Latin word for mirror. However, even rough surfaces, like those of Earth's moon or Saturn's rings, can appear bright when the source of light is directly behind the observer's head, no matter what the orientation of the surface is. This latter phenomenon is known as the "opposition effect." Spectacular examples include the eyes of a cat, which seem to glow brightly when they are illuminated by a flashlight, or highway signs and reflectors that "light up" when they are caught in a car's headlights. On Aug. 16, 2006, as the Cassini orbiter flew directly between the sun and Saturn, its Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer captured a sequence of images that vividly show this opposition brightening. Combined here into a mosaic, the images show -- from left to right -- a small, bright spot moving from the outermost B ring across the Cassini Division and all the way across the A ring. In each image, this spot is centered on the point in the rings directly opposite the sun. Theoretical models for the opposition effect suggest that it can be explained by light being scattered several times within the surfaces of individual, transparent, icy ring particles on scales of about 40 micrometers, or 1/500th of an inch. Similar effects are seen in laboratory studies of bright, finely-textured material such as snow or sugar crystals. In this mosaic, blue colors highlight the icy rings (2.35 microns), green represents sunlight reflected by the clouds of Saturn (2.86 microns) and red depicts thermal emission from the planet's interior (5.02 microns). The rings were observed while they were in front of the planet, producing a complex interplay of sunlight reflected from the rings and the shadows cast by the rings on the cloud tops of Saturn. The yellow-green sunlit clouds of Saturn are seen in the upper right corner of the mosaic beyond the outer edge of the A ring, and also through the 4,000-kilometer-wide (2,400 mile) Cassini Division in the left third of the mosaic. (Yellow indicates a mixture of reflected sunlight and thermal emission.) The shadowed regions of the planet, on the other hand, appear deep red because only thermal emission produced deep inside Saturn itself is visible. At exact opposition, the shadows of the rings are hidden behind the rings themselves, but away from this point shadows can be seen peeking out from behind the edges of the A and B rings into the Cassini Division, as well as beyond the outer edge of the A ring. If one looks closely, one can even trace the A ring's shadow behind the partly transparent A ring, as a faint purple band. Within this band, a thin blue-green line, crossing obliquely behind the A ring is caused by sunlight passing through the narrow Encke Gap in the outer A ring. The Cassini spacecraft was at a distance of 254,000 kilometers (157,800 miles) from the center of Saturn when these images were taken, while the opening angle of the rings to the sun was 16.3 degrees. The image scale at the rings is approximately 70 kilometers (40 miles) per pixel. All nine images were taken over a period of 27 minutes, and the vertical dimension of the mosaic is 1.8 degrees. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona, where this image was produced. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team home page is at: http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu . Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
June 26, 2007 |
|
| 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 familiar banded appearance of Jupiter at low and middle latitudes gradually gives way to a more mottled appearance at high latitudes in this striking true color image taken Dec. 13, 2000, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The intricate structures seen in the polar region are clouds of different chemical composition, height and thickness. Clouds are organized by winds, and the mottled appearance in the polar regions suggests more vortex-type motion and winds of less vigor at higher latitudes. The cause of this difference is not understood. One possible contributor is that the horizontal component of the Coriolis force, which arises from the planet's rotation and is responsible for curving the trajectories of ocean currents and winds on Earth, has its greatest effect at high latitudes and vanishes at the equator. This tends to create small, intense vortices at high latitudes on Jupiter. Another possibility may lie in that fact that Jupiter overall emits nearly as much of its own heat as it absorbs from the Sun, and this internal heat flux is very likely greater at the poles. This condition could lead to enhanced convection at the poles and more vortex-type structures. Further analysis of Cassini images, including analysis of sequences taken over a span of time, should help us understand the cause of equator-to-pole differences in cloud organization and evolution. By the time this picture was taken, Cassini had reached close enough to Jupiter to allow the spacecraft to return images with more detail than what's possible with the planetary camera on NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. The resolution here is 114 kilometers (71 miles) per pixel. This contrast-enhanced, edge-sharpened frame was composited from images take at different wavelengths with Cassini's narrow-angle camera, from a distance of 19 million kilometers (11.8 million miles). The spacecraft was in almost a direct line between the Sun and Jupiter, so the solar illumination on Jupiter is almost full phase. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona For higher resolution, click here. |
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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 sequence of nine true-color, narrow-angle images shows the varying appearance of Jupiter as it rotated through more than a complete 360-degree turn. The smallest features seen in this sequence are no bigger than about 380 kilometers (about 236 miles). Rotating more than twice as fast as Earth, Jupiter completes one rotation in about 10 hours. These images were taken on Oct. 22 and 23, 2000. From image to image (proceeding left to right across each row and then down to the next row), cloud features on Jupiter move from left to right before disappearing over the edge onto the nightside of the planet. The most obvious Jovian feature is the Great Red Spot, which can be seen moving onto the dayside in the third frame (below and to the left of the center of the planet). In the fourth frame, taken about 1 hour and 40 minutes later, the Great Red Spot has been carried by the planet's rotation to the east and does not appear again until the final frame, which was taken one complete rotation after the third frame. Unlike weather systems on Earth, which change markedly from day to day, large cloud systems in Jupiter's colder, thicker atmosphere are long-lived, so the two frames taken one rotation apart have a very similar appearance. However, when this sequence of images is eventually animated, strong winds blowing eastward at some latitudes and westward at other latitudes will be readily apparent. The results of such differential motions can be seen even in the still frames shown here. For example, the clouds of the Great Red Spot rotate counterclockwise. The strong westward winds northeast of the Great Red Spot are deflected around the spot and form a wake of turbulent clouds downstream (visible in the fourth image), just as a rock in a rapidly flowing river deflects the fluid around it. The equatorial zone on Jupiter is currently bright white, indicating the presence of clouds much like cirrus clouds on Earth, but made of ammonia instead of water ice. This is very different from Jupiter's appearance 20 years ago, when the equatorial zone was more of a brownish cast similar to the region just to its north. At the northern edge of the equatorial zone, local regions colored a dark grayish-blue are places where the ammonia clouds have cleared allowing a view to deeper levels in Jupiter's atmosphere. Interrupting these relatively clear regions is a series of bright arrow-shaped equatorial plumes. The most obvious one is visible just above and to the right of center in the third and ninth frames. These plumes resemble the `anvil' clouds that accompany common summer thunderstorms on Earth, although the Jovian plumes are much bigger, and their somewhat regular spacing around the planet suggests an association with a planetary-scale wave motion. The southwest-northeast tilt of these plumes suggests that the winds in this region act to help maintain the eastward winds at this latitude. In the dark belt north of the equatorial zone, a turbulent, region with a white filamentary cloud is visible in the sixth frame, indicating rapidly changing wind direction. Several white ovals are visible at higher southern latitudes (toward the bottom of the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames, for example). These ovals, like the Great Red Spot, rotate counterclockwise and are similar in some respects to high-pressure systems on Earth. When these images were taken, Cassini was about 3.3 degrees above Jupiter's equatorial plane, and the Sun-Jupiter-spacecraft angle was about 20 degrees. JPL manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPl is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona. (PIA02825A) For higher resolution, click here. |
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Cassini's Farewell to Jupiter |
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Cassini's Farewell to Jupiter On January 15, 2001, 17 days after it passed its closest approach to Jupiter, NASA's Cassini spacecraft looked back to see the giant planet as a thinning crescent. This image is a color mosaic from that day, shot from a distance of 18.3 million kilometers (11.4 million miles). The smallest visible features are roughly 110 kilometers (70 miles) across. The solar phase angle, the angle from the spacecraft to the planet to the Sun, is 120 degrees. A crescent Io, innermost of Jupiter's four large moons, appears to the left of Jupiter. Cassini collected its last Jupiter images on March 22, 2001, as the spacecraft continued the final leg of its journey to a July 1, 2004, appointment with Saturn. 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 Cassini for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona For higher resolution, click here. |
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A New View of Saturn -- Blac
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A New View of Saturn Black and White |
| Full Description |
New images provided by the visual infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft reveal a diverse array of clouds in the depths of Saturn. This new view on the right side shows clouds at an altitude where pressure is nearly 2-bar. (A bar is a unit of atmospheric pressure equivalent to Earth's sea-level atmospheric pressure.) These clouds are about 30 kilometers (19 miles) underneath the clouds usually observed on Saturn. This is distinctly different from the typical view of Saturn in reflected sunlight, shown on the left. The left view is characterized by broad expanses of clouds near the 1-bar level, such as the white cloud seen circling the equator, with little hint of the discrete cloud complexes lying underneath. This new view was obtained at the 5-micron wavelength, using Saturn's own thermal radiation emanating from Saturn's interior as the light source instead of the Sun. Clouds at the 2-bar depth block this upwelling radiation to varying degrees, depending on the thickness of the cloud. At the 5-micron wavelength, the instrument sees such clouds as relatively dark areas in its view of Saturn. To render them visible as white clouds in the image shown on the right, the original view was photographically inverted. This technique enables clouds to be imaged across the globe, under both daytime and nighttime conditions. The images are also unaffected by shadowing from Saturn's immense ring system, unlike the left-hand image which has much of the northern hemisphere covered by ring shadow. These images were acquired by Cassini's visual infrared mapping spectrometer on June 28, 2005, at a distance of 1.2 million kilometers (745,645 miles), and at a solar phase angle of 102 degrees. The image on the left was taken in reflected sunlight at 0.90 micron wavelength. The image on the right was taken in Saturn's thermal radiation at 5.1 micron wavelength, with the brightness inverted to reveal clouds as white and atmospheric clearings as dark. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
September 5, 2005 |
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A New View of Saturn
| Description |
A New View of Saturn |
| Full Description |
New images provided by the visual infrared mapping spectrometer on the Cassini spacecraft reveal a diverse array of clouds in the depths of Saturn. This new view on the right side shows clouds at an altitude where pressure is nearly 2 bar. A bar is a unit of atmospheric pressure equivalent to Earth's sea-level atmospheric pressure. These clouds are about 30 kilometers (19 miles) underneath the clouds usually observed on Saturn. This is distinctly different from the typical view of Saturn in reflected sunlight, shown on the left. The left view is characterized by broad expanses of clouds near the 1-bar level, such as the white cloud seen circling the equator, with little hint of the discrete cloud complexes lying underneath. This new view was obtained at the 5-micron wavelength, using Saturn's own thermal radiation emanating from Saturn's interior as the light source instead of the Sun. Clouds at the 2-bar depth block this upwelling radiation to varying degrees, depending on the thickness of the cloud. At the 5-micron wavelength, the instrument sees such clouds as relatively dark areas in its view of Saturn. To render them visible as white clouds in the image shown on the right, the original view was photographically inverted. This technique enables clouds to be imaged across the globe, under both daytime and nighttime conditions. The images are also unaffected by shadowing from Saturn¿s immense ring system, unlike the left-hand image which has much of the northern hemisphere covered by ring shadow. These images were acquired by Cassini's visual infrared mapping spectrometer on June 28, 2005, at a distance of 1.2 million kilometers (745,645 miles), and at a solar phase angle of 102 degrees. The color composite on the left comprises three images taken at different wavelengths: 2.79 micron (red), 1.60 micron (green), and 2.05 micron (blue). The image on the right was taken at 5.1 micron wavelength, with the brightness inverted to reveal clouds as white and atmospheric clearings as dark. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team is based at the University of Arizona. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team homepage is at http://wwwvims.lpl.arizona.edu. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
| Date |
September 5, 2005 |
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Titan Descent Data Movie wit
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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 movie, built with data collected during the European Space Agency's Huygens probe on Jan. 14, 2005, shows the operation of the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer camera during its descent and after touchdown. The camera was funded by NASA. The almost four-hour-long operation of the camera is shown in less than five minutes. That's 40 times the actual speed up to landing and 100 times the actual speed thereafter. The first part of the movie shows how Titan looked to the camera as it acquired more and more images during the probe's descent. Each image has a small field of view, and dozens of images were made into mosaics of the whole scene. The scientists analyzed Huygens' speed, direction of motion, rotation and swinging during the descent. The movie includes sidebar graphics that show: * (Lower left corner) Huygens' trajectory views from the south, a scale bar for comparison to the height of Mount Everest, colored arrows that point to the sun and to the Cassini orbiter. * (Top left corner) A close-up view of the Huygens probe highlighting large and unexpected parachute movements, a scale bar for comparison to human height. * (Lower right corner) A compass that shows the changing direction of view as Huygens rotates, along with the relative positions of the sun and Cassini. * (Upper right corner) A clock that shows Universal Time for Jan. 14, 2005 (Universal Time is 7 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time). Above the clock, events are listed in mission time, which starts with the deployment of the first of the three parachutes. Sounds from a left speaker trace Huygens' motion, with tones changing with rotational speed and the tilt of the parachute. There also are clicks that clock the rotational counter, as well as sounds for the probe's heat shield hitting Titan's atmosphere, parachute deployments, heat shield release, jettison of the camera cover and touchdown. Sounds from a right speaker go with the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer activity. There's a continuous tone that represents the strength of Huygens' signal to Cassini. Then there are 13 different chimes - one for each of instrument's 13 different science parts - that keep time with flashing-white-dot exposure counters. During its descent, the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer took 3,500 exposures. The Huygens probe was delivered to Saturn's moon Titan by the Cassini spacecraft, which is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. NASA supplied two instruments on the probe, the descent imager/spectral radiometer and the gas chromatograph mass spectrometer. 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 descent imager/spectral radiometer team is based at the University of Arizona, Tucson. For, more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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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 |
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 (PIA02826) For higher resolution, click here., These two images, taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, show Jupiter in a near-infrared wavelength, and catch Europa, one of Jupiter's largest moons, at different phases. Cassini's narrow-angle camera took both images, the upper one from a distance of 69.9 million kilometers (43.4 million miles) on Oct. 17, 2000, and the lower one from a distance of 65.1 million kilometers (40.4 million miles) on Oct. 22, 2000. Both were taken at a wavelength of 727 nanometers, which is in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The camera's 727-nanometer filter accepts only a narrow spectral range centered on a relatively strong absorption feature due to methane gas. In this spectral region, the amount of light reflected by Jupiter's clouds is only half that reflected in a nearby spectral region outside the methane band. The features that are brightest in these images are the highest and thickest clouds, such as the Great Red Spot and the band of clouds girding the equator, as these scatter sunlight back to space before it has a chance to be absorbed by the methane gas in the atmosphere. This stratigraphic effect can be seen even more prominently in an image released on Oct. 23, 2000, taken in the stronger methane band at 889 nanometers, in which the only bright features are the highest hazes over the equator, the poles and the Great Red Spot. By comparing images taken in the 727 nanometer filter with others taken at 889 nanometers and at a weaker methane band at 619 nanometers, researchers will probe the heights and thickness of clouds in Jupiter's atmosphere. Europa, a satellite of Jupiter about the size of Earth's Moon, is visible to the left of Jupiter in the upper image, and in front of the planet in the lower image. Another of Jupiter's Galilean satellites, Ganymede, which is larger than the planet Mercury, is to the right in the upper image, with brightness variations visible across its surface. In the upper image, Europa is caught entering Jupiter's shadow, and hence appears as a bright crescent, in the lower image, it is seen about one-and-a-half orbits later, in transit across the face of the planet. Because there is neither methane nor any strong absorber in this spectral region on the surface of Europa, it appears strikingly white and bright compared to Jupiter. Imaging observations of the moons Europa, Io and Ganymede entering and passing through Jupiter's shadow are planned for the two-week period surrounding Cassini's closest approach on Dec. 30, 2000. The purpose of these eclipse observations is to detect and measure the variability of emissions that arise from the interaction of the satellites' tenuous atmospheres with the charged particles trapped in Jupiter's magnetic field. At the times these images were taken, Cassini was about 3.3 degrees above Jupiter's equatorial plane, and the Sun-Jupiter-spacecraft angle was about 20 degrees. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian |
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Victoria Crater' at Meridian
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Victoria Crater' at Meridiani Planum |
| date |
10.06.2006 |
| description |
This image from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows "Victoria crater," an impact crater at Meridiani Planum, near the equator of Mars. The crater is approximately 800 meters (half a mile) in diameter. It has a distinctive scalloped shape to its rim, caused by erosion and downhill movement of crater wall material. Layered sedimentary rocks are exposed along the inner wall of the crater, and boulders that have fallen from the crater wall are visible on the crater floor. The floor of the crater is occupied by a striking field of sand dunes. Since January 2004, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has been operating at Meridiani Planum. Five days before this image was taken, Opportunity arrived at the rim of Victoria crater, after a drive of more than 9 kilometers (over 5 miles). The rover can be seen in this image, at roughly the "ten o'clock" position along the rim of the crater. This view is a portion of an image taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on Oct. 3, 2006. The complete image is centered at minus7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters (12 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image shown here has been map-projected to 25 centimeters (10 inches) per pixel and north is up. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At a solar longitude of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is northern summer. This is an enhanced-color view generated from images acquired by the HiRISE camera using its red filter and blue-green filter. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mroor http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/UA |
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Close-Up of Sol 24 Sunset
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Close-Up of Sol 24 Sunset |
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This is a close-up of the sunset on Sol 24 as seen by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder. The red sky in the background and the blue around the Sun are approximately as they would appear to the human eye. The color of the Sun itself is not correct -- the Sun was overexposed in each of the 3 color images that were used to make this picture. The true color of the Sun itself may be near white or slightly bluish. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with highly focused science goals. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, developed and manages the Mars Pathfinder mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) was developed by the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory under contract to JPL. Peter Smith is the Principal Investigator. *Image Credit*: NASA |
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A P
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The "Rotten Egg" Nebula: A Planetary Nebula in the Making |
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Hands-On Book of Hubble Imag
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Hands-On Book of Hubble Images Allows the Visually Impaired to "Touch the Universe |
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Firestorm of Star Birth Seen
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Firestorm of Star Birth Seen in a Local Galaxy |
| General Information |
What is Hubble Heritage? A monthly showcase of new and archival Hubble images. Go to the Heritage site. Back to top [ #top ] |
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Saturn Seen from Far and Nea
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Saturn Seen from Far and Near |
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A Bright Supernova in the Ne
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A Bright Supernova in the Nearby Galaxy NGC 2403 |
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Hubble Sees 'Comet Galaxy' B
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Hubble Sees 'Comet Galaxy' Being Ripped Apart By Galaxy Cluster |
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Stellar Survivor from 1572 A
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Stellar Survivor from 1572 A.D. Explosion Supports Supernova Theory |
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Hubble Images of Asteroids H
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Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit |
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Hubble Images of Asteroids H
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Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit |
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Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star
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Hubble Pinpoints Doomed Star that Explodes as Supernova |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Min
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Largest Asteroid May Be 'Mini Planet' with Water Ice |
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Hubble Images of Asteroids H
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Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit |
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Hubble Images of Asteroids H
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Hubble Images of Asteroids Help Astronomers Prepare for Spacecraft Visit |
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Heatwave in Southern Califor
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Heatwave in Southern California |
| Description |
September 5, 2007, marked the end of a week-long heat wave that led to 31 deaths and triggered power outages across southern California, reported the L.A. Times. Temperatures climbed above 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) when a high-pressure system blocked cool air from the Pacific. The effect of the heat wave on different locations in the Southwest is shown in this pair of images, taken on September 5, at 11:25 a.m. local time (18:25 UTC) by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) flying on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ], in Northern California filters down from the top edge of the scene. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data obtained from the Goddard Land Processes data archives (LAADS). [ http://laads.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ], satellite. The photo-like, natural-color image (top) and corresponding land surface temperature image (bottom) illustrate the relationship between land cover, elevation, and temperature. The images show much of California and Nevada, and a smaller portion of Arizona and Utah. Not surprisingly, the hottest areas, shown in yellow, correspond with sparsely vegetated desert regions. In the natural-color image, the brush-covered Mojave Desert on the California-Nevada border is tan with splashes of pink where iron-rich sandstone is exposed. The small-leafed, woody vegetation provides little shade, allowing the Earth's surface to be exposed to the Sun. The rock-and-dirt desert absorbs sunlight, and temperatures climb (yellow areas of bottom image). The other hot spots in the image occur in the cactus-dotted Sonoran Desert, which encompasses the southernmost portions of inland California and southwestern Arizona, and the much smaller Colorado Desert west of the Salton Sea. Irrigated land south of the Salton Sea and along the Colorado River is a web of brown-green. The presence of water and vegetation in these irrigated areas makes the land cooler. Elevation also plays a role in the surface temperatures of the Sonoran Desert. Pockets of low-elevation land are much warmer than the lines of mountains that separate them, particularly in southwestern Arizona. The coolest parts of California, shown in purple and blue, are in the mountains, most prominently the Sierra Nevada, but also the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles. In the photo-like images, the mountain ranges are dark green, colored by trees. The vegetation cover and the high elevation keep the land cooler than surrounding low-elevation sites. The other significant cool spot in the image is the San Joaquin Valley. Like the irrigated farm land bordering the Salton Sea and the Colorado River, this area is kept cool by the presence of water and plants. The coldest areas in the image appear to be in Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, which are marked by streaks of dark purple. These cold signatures are from clouds.The final correlation between land cover and temperature can be seen in urban areas along the coast. In the photo-like image, Los Angles sprawls as a silver-gray patch from the coast to the San Bernardino Mountains. Since urban surfaces absorb heat, Los Angles is slightly warmer in the surface temperature image than the surrounding landscape. In the north, the San Francisco urban area is similarly warmer than its surroundings. Though the extreme temperatures raised the fire danger in Southern California, MODIS did not detect any fires in the region. Fires, marked with red dots, were burning in Central California south and east of San Francisco. Smoke from a large fire [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14497 ] |
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MOC Image of Phobos with TES
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| Title |
MOC Image of Phobos with TES Temperature Overlay |
| Description |
This image of Phobos, the inner and larger of the two moons of Mars, was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor on August 19, 1998. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) measured the brightness of thermal radiation at the same time the camera acquired this image. By analyzing the brightness, TES scientists could deduce the various fractions of the surface exposed to the Sun and their temperatures. This preliminary analysis shows that the surface temperature, dependent on slope and particle size, varies from a high of +25o F (-4o C) on the most illuminated slopes to -170o F (-112o C) in shadows. This large difference, and the fact that such differences can be found in close proximity, adds support to the notion that the surface of Phobos is covered by very small particles. Malin Space Science Systems, Inc. and the California Institute of Technology built the MOC using spare hardware from the Mars Observer mission. MSSS operates the camera from its facilities in San Diego, CA. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer is operated by Arizona State University and was built by Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars Surveyor Operations Project operates the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft with its industrial partner, Lockheed Martin Astronautics, from facilities in Pasadena, CA and Denver, CO. |
| Date |
08.19.1998 |
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ASI/MET - 3D
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ASI/MET - 3D |
| Description |
The Atmospheric Structure Instrument/Meteorology Package (ASI/MET) is the mast and windsocks at the center of this color image, taken in stereo by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder (IMP) on Sol 3. The instrument appears in two different sections due to image parallax. The ASI/MET is an engineering subsytem that acquired atmospheric data during Pathfinder's descent, and will continue to get more data through the entire landed mission. The windsocks are seen pointing almost completely up, representing little wind movement at the three locations of the windsocks. A rock at left holds a shadow of the ASI/MET, indicating the sun's position is at the rear right. Portions of a lander petal and deflated airbag are visible, in addition to several rocks of varying sizes in the distance. 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. *Click below to see the left and right views individually.*[figure removed for brevity, see original site] Left [figure removed for brevity, see original site] Right |
| Date |
07.11.1997 |
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New Mars Camera's First Imag
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New Mars Camera's First Image of Mars from Mapping Orbit |
| Description |
The high resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured its first image of Mars in the mapping orbit, demonstrating the full resolution capability, on Sept. 29, 2006. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) acquired this image at 8:16 AM (Pacific Time), and parts of the image became available to the HiRISE team at 1:30 PM. With the spacecraft at an altitude of 280 kilometers (174 miles), the image scale is 29.7 centimeters per pixel (about 12 inches per pixel). This sub-image covers a small portion of the floor of Ius Chasma, one branch of the giant Valles Marineris system of canyons. The image illustrates a variety of processes that have shaped the Martian surface. There are bedrock exposures of layered materials, which could be sedimentary rocks deposited in water or from the air. Some of the bedrock has been faulted and folded, perhaps the result of large-scale forces in the crust or from a giant landslide. The darker unit of material at right includes many rocks. The image resolves rocks as small as small as 90 centimeters (3 feet) in diameter. At bottom right are a few dunes or ridges of windblown sand. If a person was located on this part of Mars, he or she would just barely be visible in this image. Image TRA_000823_1720 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on September 29, 2006. Shown here is a small portion of the full image. The full image is centered at minus 7.8 degrees latitude, 279.5 degrees East longitude. The image is oriented such that north is to the top. The range to the target site was 297 kilometers (185.6 miles). At this distance the image scale is 29.7 centimeters per pixel (with one-by-one binning) so objects about 89 centimeters (35 inches) across are resolved. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the west with a solar incidence angle of 59.7 degrees, thus the sun was about 30.3 degrees above the horizon. At an LsubS of 113.6 degrees, the season on Mars is Northern Summer / Southern Winter. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/UA |
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Landscape West of Bosporos R
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Landscape West of Bosporos Rupes |
| Description |
This image was taken in the mid-latitudes of Mars' southern hemisphere near the giant Argyre impact basin. It is located just to the west of a prominent scarp known as Bosporos Rupes. The left side of the image shows cratered plains. Some of the craters are heavily mantled and indistinct, whereas others exhibit sharp rims and dramatic topography. The largest crater in this half of the image is about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) wide. Mounds and ridges, which may be remnants of an ice-rich deposit, are visible on its floor. Three sinuous valleys occupy the center of the image. Valleys such as these were first observed in data returned by the NASA Mariner 9 spacecraft, which reached Mars in 1971. The right side of the image shows part of an impact crater that is approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) in diameter. The furrowed appearance of the crater's inner wall suggests that it has been extensively modified, perhaps by landslides and flowing water. Like other craters in the area, the floor of this crater has a rough and dissected texture that is often attributed to the loss of ice-rich material. Image AEB_000001_0050_Red was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 24, 2006. The image is centered at 40.64 degrees south latitude, 303.49 degrees east longitude. The image is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 2,044 kilometers (1,270 miles). At this distance the image scale is 2.04 meters (6.69 feet) per pixel, so objects as small as 6.1 meters (20 feet) are resolved. In total this image is 40.90 kilometers (25.41 miles) or 20,081 pixels wide and 11.22 kilometers (6.97 miles) or 5,523 pixels high. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:30 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 81.4 degrees, thus the sun was about 8.6 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona |
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North Polar Layered Deposits
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North Polar Layered Deposits in Summer |
| Description |
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this image during its first day of test imaging from the spacecraft's low-altitude mapping orbit, Sept. 29, 2006. This image of Mars' north polar layered deposits was taken during the summer season (solar longitude of 113.6 degrees), when carbon dioxide frost had evaporated from the surface. The bright spots seen here are most likely patches of water frost, but the location of the frost patches does not appear to controlled by topography. Layers are visible at the bottom of the image, mostly due to difference in slope between them. The variations in slope are probably caused by differences in the physical properties of the layers. Thinner layers that have previously been observed in these deposits are visible, and may represent annual deposition of water ice and dust that is thought to form the polar layered deposits. These deposits are thought to record global climate variations on Mars, similar to ice ages on Earth. HiRISE images such as this should allow Mars' climate record to be inferred and compared with climate changes on Earth. Image TRA_000825_2665 was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on September 29, 2006. Shown here is the full image, centered at 86.5 degree latitude, 172.0 degrees east longitude. The image is oriented such that north is to the top. The range to the target site was 298.9 kilometers (186.8 miles). At this distance the image scale is 59.8 centimeters (23.5 inches) per pixel (with two-by-two binning} so objects about 1.79 meters (70 inches) across are resolved. In total the original image was 12.2 kilometers 7.58 mile, 10024 pixels) wide and 6.1 kilometers (3.79 miles, 5000 pixels) long. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 3:30 PM and the scene is illuminated from the southwest with a solar incidence angle of 63.5 degrees, thus the sun was about 26.5 degrees above the horizon. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/UA |
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Landscape Northeast of Halle
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Landscape Northeast of Halley Crater |
| Description |
. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona, This image shows a landscape west of Mars' Argyre impact basin and northeast of Halley Crater. The large but faint circular feature near the center of the image is an unnamed impact crater about 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) in diameter. It has been all but erased by geological (and probably ice-related) processes. In fact, the majority of impact craters in this image have been modified from their original shapes, some undoubtedly beyond recognition. Only a few small craters remain pristine. The most prevalent surface type in this image is rough, dissected terrain, which is characterized by a complex pattern of knobs, pits, ridges and valleys. In places the rough terrain has been covered by a younger material that appears flat, smooth and nearly featureless. The smooth material may have been emplaced as muddy or icy debris. It filled low-lying areas (most notably craters) and surrounded higher features, preserving islands of rough terrain. Wind-formed dunes have formed atop some of the smooth material, and diagonal streaks on the right side of the image may be due to the winds. Images such as this show the importance of water (liquid and/or ice), wind, and impacts in shaping the surface of Mars. Image AEB_000001_0100_Red was taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft on March 24, 2006. The image is centered at 47.14 degrees south latitude, 302.00 degrees east longitude. It is oriented such that north is 7 degrees to the left of up. The range to the target was 1,699 kilometers (1,056 miles). At this distance the image scale is 1.70 meter (5.58 feet) per pixel in the center portion of the image, so objects as small as 5.1 meter (16.7 feet) are resolved. In the side regions the pixels were binned 2x2 to a scale of 3.4 meters (11.2 feet) per pixel. The camera has a total of 10 red-bandpass CCD detectors, and in this image the first 4 CCDs on the left and the last 3 on the right were binned 2x2, while 3 in the middle returned data at full resolution. In total this image is 34.08 kilometers (21.18 miles) or 20,081 pixels wide and 8.50 kilometers (5.28 miles) or 5,164 pixels high. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:27 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 84.5 degrees, thus the sun was about 5.5 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ] |
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Perspective Views of HiRISE
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Perspective Views of HiRISE First Image |
| Description |
This perspective view generated from digital topography provides an overview of the Mars terrain covered in the first color image of Mars from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It has a field of view 55 degrees wide, and no vertical exaggeration. The overview illustrates how the ridge has deformed several valleys and impact craters. The image is a subset of the first HiRISE image from Mars [ http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08014 ], which was taken on March 24, 2006. The image was taken at a local Mars time of 07:33 and the scene is illuminated from the upper right with a solar incidence angle of 78.1 degrees, thus the sun was about 11.9 degrees above the horizon. At an Ls of 29 degrees (with Ls an indicator of Mars' position in its orbit around the sun), the season on Mars is southern autumn. Images from the HiRISE and additional information about the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mro [ http://www.nasa.gov/mro ] or http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu [ http://HiRISE.lpl.arizona.edu ]. For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit: http://www.nasa.gov [ http://www.nasa.gov ]. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is the prime contractor for the project and built the spacecraft. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona. Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/USGS |
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