Narrow Search
 
 
Advanced Search

Browse All : Images of Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1981 and November 1980

Printer Friendly
1-8 of 8
     
     
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 enhanced-color image was created by combining three images taken through ultraviolet, violet and green filters on July 12, 1981. Several changes were apparent in Saturn's atmosphere since Voyager 1's November 1980 encounter, and the planet's rings had brightened considerably due to the higher sun angle. Voyager 2 was 43 million kilometers (27 million miles) from Saturn when it took this photograph. (P-23880)
Solar System Montage of Voya …
Title Solar System Montage of Voyager Images
Full Description This montage of images taken by the Voyager spacecraft of the planets and four of Jupiter's moons is set against a false-color Rosette Nebula with Earth's moon in the foreground. Studying and mapping Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and many of their moons, Voyager provided scientists with better images and data than they had ever had before or expected from the program. Although launched sixteen days after Voyager 2, Voyager 1's trajectory was a faster path, arriving at Jupiter in March 1979. Voyager 2 arrived about four months later in July 1979. Both spacecraft were then directed to Saturn with Voyager 1 arriving in November 1980 and Voyager 2 in August 1981. Voyager 2 was then diverted to the remaining gas giants, Uranus in January 1986 and Neptune in August 1989. Data collection continues by both Voyager 1 and 2 as the renamed Voyager Interstellar Mission searches for the edge of the solar wind influence (the heliopause) and exits the Solar System. A shortened list of the discoveries of Voyager 1 and 2 include:the discovery of the Uranian and Neptunian magnetospheres (magnetic environments caused by various types of planet cores), the discovery of twenty-two new satellites including three at Jupiter, three at Saturn, ten at Uranus, and six at Neptune, Io was found to have active volcanism (the only other Solar System body than Earth to be confirmed), Triton was found to have active geyser-like structures and an atmosphere, Auroral Zones (where gases become excited after being hit by solar particles) were discovered at Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, Jupiter was found to have rings, Neptune, originally thought to be too cold to support such atmospheric disturbances, had large-scale storms.
Date UNKNOWN
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Saturn's Moon Tethys
Title Saturn's Moon Tethys
Explanation Tethys is one of the larger and closer moons of Saturn. It was visited by both Voyager spacecraft [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] - Voyager 1 in November 1980 and by Voyager [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960629.html ] 2 in August 1981. Tethys [ http://www.nineplanets.org/tethys.html ] is now known to be composed almost completely of water ice. Tethys [ http://www.solarviews.com/eng/tethys.htm ] shows a large impact crater [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990711.html ] that nearly circles the planet. That the impact that caused this crater did not disrupt the moon is taken as evidence that Tethys [ http://sse.jpl.nasa.gov/features/planets/saturn/tethys.html ] was not completely frozen in its past. Two smaller moons, Telesto [ http://www.nineplanets.org/tethys.html#telesto ] and Calypso [ http://www.nineplanets.org/tethys.html#calypso ], orbit Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/saturn.html ] just ahead of and behind Tethys. Giovanni Cassini [ http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Cassini.html ] discovered Tethys in 1684. In 1997, NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov/ ] launched [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971016.html ] a spacecraft named Cassini [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/spacecraft/ ] to Saturn that will arrive in 2004.
Saturn's Moon Tethys
Title Saturn's Moon Tethys
Explanation Tethys [ http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~cjhamil/SolarSystem/tethys.html ] is one of the larger and closer moons of Saturn [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap951018.html ]. It was visited by both Voyager spacecraft - Voyager 1 in November 1980 and by Voyager 2 in August 1981. Tethys [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/tethys.html ] is now known to be composed almost completely of water ice. Tethys shows a large impact crater that nearly circles the planet. That the impact that caused this crater did not disrupt the moon is taken as evidence that Tethys was not completely frozen in its past. Tethys has two moons named Telesto [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/tethys.html#telesto ] and Calypso [ http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/tethys.html#calypso ] that orbit just ahead of it and behind it. Tethys was originally discovered in 1684 by Giovanni Cassini.
Saturn's Atmospheric Changes
Title Saturn's Atmospheric Changes
Description Saturn's rings are bright and its northern hemisphere defined by bright features as NASA's Voyager 2 approaches Saturn, which it will encounter on Aug. 25, 1981. Three images, taken through ultraviolet, violet and green filters on July 12, 1981, were combined to make this photograph. Several changes are apparent in Saturn's atmosphere since Voyager 1's November 1980 encounter, and the planet's rings have brightened considerably due to the higher sun angle. Voyager 2 was 43 million kilometers (27 million miles) from Saturn when it took this photograph. The Voyager project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Date 08.22.1981
Saturn's B-ring
Title Saturn's B-ring
Description Prominent dark spokes are visible in the outer half of Saturn's broad B-ring in this Voyager 2 photograph taken on Aug. 3, 1981 from a range of about 22 million kilometers (14 million miles). The features appear as filamentary markings about 12,000 kilometers (7,S00 miles) long, which rotate around the planet with the motion of particles in the rings. The nature of these features, discovered by Voyager 1, is not totally understood, but scientists believe the spokes may be caused by dust levitated above the ring plane by electric fields, Voyager 2 photography of the rings edge-on, scheduled for Aug. 25, 1981, will provide an opportunity to test that theory. Because the Sun is now illuminating the rings from a higher angle, Voyager 2's photographs reveal ring structure from a greater distance than that seen by Voyager 1 in its November 1980 encounter. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Date 08.13.1981
Jupiter with Io Crossing
PIA00455
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Jupiter with Io Crossing
Original Caption Released with Image Jupiter's satellite Io poses before the giant planet in this photo returned January 17, 1979, from a distance of 29 million miles (47 million kilometers). The satellite's shadow can be seen falling on the face of Jupiter at left. Io is traveling from left to right in its one-and-three-quarter-day orbit around Jupiter. Even from this great distance the image of Io shows dark poles and a bright equatorial region. Voyager will make its closest approach to Jupiter -- 174,000 miles (280,000 kilometer) -- on March 5. It will then continue to Saturn in November 1980, Meanwhile Voyager 2, a sister spacecraft, will fly past Jupiter July 9, 1979, and reach Saturn in August 1981. This color image was taken through orange, green and blue filters. The Voyagers are managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Saturn's Atmospheric Changes
PIA03152
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Saturn's Atmospheric Changes
Original Caption Released with Image Saturn's rings are bright and its northern hemisphere defined by bright features as NASA's Voyager 2 approaches Saturn, which it will encounter on Aug. 25, 1981. Three images, taken through ultraviolet, violet and green filters on July 12, 1981, were combined to make this photograph. Several changes are apparent in Saturn's atmosphere since Voyager 1's November 1980 encounter, and the planet's rings have brightened considerably due to the higher sun angle. Voyager 2 was 43 million kilometers (27 million miles) from Saturn when it took this photograph. The Voyager project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
1-8 of 8