|
|
Comet Stepping Stones
| Title |
Comet Stepping Stones |
| Description |
This image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows three of the many fragments making up Comet 73P/Schwassman-Wachmann 3. The infrared picture also provides the best look yet at the crumbling comet's trail of debris, seen here as a bridge connecting the larger fragments. The comet circles around our sun every 5.4 years. In 1995, it splintered apart into four pieces, labeled A through D, with C being the biggest. Since then, the comet has continued to fracture into dozens of additional pieces. This image is centered about midway between fragments C and B, fragment G can be seen in the upper right corner. The comet's trail is made of dust, pebbles and rocks left in the comet's wake during its numerous journeys around the sun. Such debris can become the stuff of spectacular meteor showers on Earth. This image was taken on April 1, 2006, by Spitzer's multi-band imaging photometer using the 24-micron wavelength channel. |
|
NASA Connect - ETPTAS - Impo
…
In Path of Totality: Measuri
…
2/17/10
| Description |
In Path of Totality: Measuring Angular Size and Distance, students learn about the natural phenomena that create a total eclipse. Students also explore the history, mythology, science, and math that relate to these amazing events. NASA scientists and engineers introduce a satellite where scientists make artificial eclipses in order to learn more about the Sun«ÉŸs corona. Using hands-on lessons, web-based activities and simple tools, students will measure the angular size and predict the angular distance of objects in the sky. |
| Date |
2/17/10 |
|
NASA Connect - ETPTAS - Sun
…
In Path of Totality: Measuri
…
2/17/10
| Description |
In Path of Totality: Measuring Angular Size and Distance, students learn about the natural phenomena that create a total eclipse. Students also explore the history, mythology, science, and math that relate to these amazing events. NASA scientists and engineers introduce a satellite where scientists make artificial eclipses in order to learn more about the Sun«ÉŸs corona. Using hands-on lessons, web-based activities and simple tools, students will measure the angular size and predict the angular distance of objects in the sky. |
| Date |
2/17/10 |
|
Saturn's Night Lights
| Description |
Saturn's Night Lights |
| Full Description |
The dark side of the ringplane glows with scattered light, including the luminous F ring, which shines like a rope of brilliant neon. Below, Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) presents an exquisitely thin crescent. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The image was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 3, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 160 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit:NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
June 16, 2006 |
|
Uncovering Rhea
| Description |
Two Saturnian moons meet in the sky. Dione departs after crossing the face of Rhea for several minutes. |
| Full Description |
Two Saturnian moons meet in the sky. Dione departs after crossing the face of Rhea for several minutes. Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across), at right, has a notably smoother-looking surface than Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), suggesting the former has been modified more recently. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Dione and 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Rhea. The Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle is about 134 degrees on both moons. Image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel on Dione and 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel on Rhea. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
June 20, 2006 |
|
A Captivating Vision
| Description |
A Captivating Vision |
| Full Description |
Cassini captured this arresting view of Saturn just before Epimetheus crossed into the blinding glare of the planet's sunlit crescent and was lost. As it orbits Saturn, Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) hugs the outside edge of the narrow F ring, beyond the orbit of Pandora. The F ring is the brightest ring feature seen here. Saturn's southern hemisphere is softly lit by sunlight reflected off the rings. A less obvious feature in this view is the planet's shadow, which begins to darken the inner regions of the rings at left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 4 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Epimetheus and 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Saturn. The Sun-Epimetheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 161 degrees. Image scale is 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Saturn. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 11, 2006 |
|
Land of Darkness
| Description |
The narrow and twisted F ring lights up this scene, which features Mimas against the unlit side of Saturn's ringplane. |
| Full Description |
The narrow and twisted F ring lights up this scene, which features Mimas against the unlit side of Saturn's ringplane. The F ring contains a great deal of fine, icy particles that are quite effective at scattering sunlight at high phase angles. Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is seen as a mere crescent in the center of this haunting view. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 13, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 156 degrees. Image scale is 23 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 18, 2006 |
|
Saturn's View of Titan
| Description |
Saturn's View of Titan |
| Full Description |
As it approached Titan for yet another revealing encounter, the Cassini spacecraft acquired this image showing terrain on the moon's Saturn-facing hemisphere. Prominent dark areas found in the moon's equatorial region appear to contain vast and continuous dune fields, discovered by the Cassini Radar experiment and likely composed of particles that drop from Titan's unique, smoggy atmosphere. The dark regions seen here are provisionally named Aaru and Senkyo (at right), with parts of western Fensal and Aztlan showing at left, near the terminator. Titan is 5,150 kilometers (3,200 miles) across. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained on July 2, 2006 at a distance of approximately 163,000 kilometers (101,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 62 degrees. Image scale is 19 kilometers (12 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 28, 2006 |
|
Shade from Epimetheus
| Description |
Shade from Epimetheus |
| Full Description |
The shadow of Epimetheus, one of Saturn's co-orbital moons, races across the planet's restless cloud tops. Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) cruises along beyond the orbits of the narrow F ring and its shepherd moons. Farther south on Saturn, the swirls and eddies are obscured by the shadow of the outer A ring and its two prominent, moon-containing gaps, Encke (bottom) and Keeler (dim, at the A ring edge). The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The view was obtained on June 30, 2006 at a distance of approximately 335,000 kilometers (208,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 24, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 162 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 24, 2006 |
|
Candle in the Dark
| Description |
Candle in the Dark |
| Full Description |
Saturn's rings cut across an eerie scene that is ruled by Titan's luminous crescent and globe-encircling haze, broken by the small moon Enceladus, whose icy jets are dimly visible at its south pole. North is up. The scattered light around planet-sized Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) makes the moon's solid surface visible in silhouette. Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) enjoys far clearer skies than its giant sibling moon. This view shows the unlit side of Saturn's rings. The image was taken in visible red light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 160 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 23 kilometers (15 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 32 kilometers (20 miles) on Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 3, 2006 |
|
Spokes Sighted Again!
| Description |
This image from the Cassini spacecraft shows a ghostly white streak, called a spoke, in Saturn's B ring. |
| Full Description |
This image from the Cassini spacecraft shows a ghostly white streak, called a spoke, in Saturn's B ring. This is the first sighting of a spoke in nearly a year, and the first spoke seen by Cassini on the sunlit side of the rings. It is also the first spoke seen at high phase angle -- that is, the angle formed between the sun, the rings and Cassini. In this geometry, the feature appears white (instead of black) against the rings because the very small particles comprising the spoke preferentially scatter light in the forward direction (i.e. toward Cassini), making the spoke brighter than the background rings. The clear-filter image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 23, 2006, at a distance of approximately 692,000 kilometers (430,000 miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 115 degrees. Image scale on the sky at the distance of Saturn is 38 kilometers (23 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 26, 2006 |
|
Titan's Kiss
| Description |
350 N Canon Dr |
| Full Description |
Saturn's two largest moons meet in the sky in a rare embrace. Smog-enshrouded Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) glows to the left of airless Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.6 million kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Rhea and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan. The Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 157 degrees on Rhea. Image scale is 22 kilometers (13 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 14, 2006 |
|
Rings Occulting Titan
| Description |
Rings Occulting Titan |
| Full Description |
Titan shines beyond the rings like a brilliant ring of fire, its light gleaming here and there through the gaps in Saturn's magnificent plane of ice. Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is surrounded by a thick photochemical haze which scatters the Sun's light. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 158 degrees. Image scale is 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 12, 2006 |
|
Night Lights
| Description |
Night Lights |
| Full Description |
The Cassini spacecraft looks across the unlit ringplane as Mimas glides silently in front of Dione. It is often difficult to tell from two-dimensional views like this where the moons are in relation to each other and Cassini. In this instance, Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across) is on the side of Saturn closest to Cassini and Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) is on the far side of the planet. Dione's night side is dimly lit by reflected light from Saturn. Much of the planet's sunlit side would be visible from the dark terrain seen here on Dione. Saturn's shadow stretches across the rings at the bottom of the image. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 3, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.6 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Mimas and 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Dione. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 146 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel on Mimas and 13 kilometers (8 miles) on Dione. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 25, 2006 |
|
Boosting the Signal
| Description |
Boosting the Signal |
| Full Description |
The ice jets of Enceladus send particles streaming into space hundreds of kilometers above the south pole of this spectacularly active moon. Some of the particles escape to form the diffuse E ring around Saturn. This color-coded image was processed to enhance faint signals, making the contours and extent of the fainter, larger-scale component of the plume easier to see. The bright strip behind and above Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across) is the E ring, in which this intriguing body resides. The small round object at far left is a background star. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 24, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 162 degrees. Image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
July 21, 2006 |
|
Opposition Surge on the B Ri
…
| Description |
Opposition Surge on the B Ring |
| Full Description |
Two images of Saturn's A and B ring showcase the opposition effect, a brightness surge that is visible on Saturn's rings when the Sun is directly behind the spacecraft. This view is of the B ring. See Opposition Surge on the A Ring for the view of the A ring. The opposition effect exists because of two contributing factors. One is due to the fact that the shadows of ring particles directly opposite the Sun from Cassini -- the region of opposition -- fall completely behind the particles as seen from the spacecraft. These shadows are thus not visible to the spacecraft: all ring particle surfaces visible to the spacecraft in these two images are in sunlight and therefore bright. Much farther away from the region of opposition, the ring particle shadows become more visible and the scene becomes less bright. The brightness falls off in a circular fashion around the opposition point. The main factor to the opposition surge in this image is an optical phenomenon called "coherent backscatter." Here, the electromagnetic signal from the rays of scattered sunlight making its way back to the spacecraft is enhanced near the region of opposition because, instead of canceling, the electric and magnetic fields comprising the scattered radiation fluctuate in unison. The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 23, 2006 at a distance of approximately 262,000 kilometers (163,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale in the radial, or outward from Saturn, direction is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 21, 2006 |
|
Rhea Releases Enceladus
| Description |
Two slim crescents smile toward the Cassini spacecraft following an occultation event. |
| Full Description |
Two slim crescents smile toward the Cassini spacecraft following an occultation event. Taken only five minutes after Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) first approached the limb of Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), this view shows the bright little moon emerging from behind the larger moon's crescent. (See Enceladus Approaches for the earlier view.) The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 4, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.4 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Rhea and 1.9 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Enceladus. The view was obtained at a Sun-moon-spacecraft, or phase, angle of about 142 degrees relative to both moons. Image scale is 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 11 kilometers (7 miles) on Enceladus. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 7, 2006 |
|
Moon With a Warm Heart
| Description |
Moon With a Warm Heart |
| Full Description |
Few large craters are to be found in the wrinkled terrain of Enceladus, where the surface has been reworked by geologic processes presumably resulting from the moon's inner warmth. Cassini spied the bright crescent of Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) on July 23, 2006 at a distance of approximately 628,000 kilometers (391,000 miles). The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 degrees. Image scale is 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 22, 2006 |
|
Disturbances by Prometheus
| Description |
Disturbances by Prometheus |
| Full Description |
The clumpy disturbed appearance of the brilliant F ring constantly changes. The irregular structure of the ring is due, in large part, to the gravitational perturbations on the ring material by one of Saturn's moons, Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across). Interior to the F ring, the A ring bears a striking resemblance to a classic grooved, vinyl record. Visible here are the Keeler gap (42 kilometers, or 26 miles wide) and the Encke gap (325 kilometers, or 200 miles wide). The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 862 nanometers. The view was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 26, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (900,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 141 degrees. Image scale is 8 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 5, 2006 |
|
Flattened Crescent
| Description |
Flattened Crescent |
| Full Description |
Saturn's low density and fast rotation combine to give it its characteristic oblate shape. The dramatic crescent seen here demonstrates how the ringed planet is much wider at the equator than at the poles. The rings disappear near center into the darkness of the planet's shadow. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 11, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.9 million kilometers (1.8 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 163 degrees. Image scale is 169 kilometers (105 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 14, 2006 |
|
Saturn Shine
| Description |
Saturn Shine |
| Full Description |
This view looks down onto the unlit side of Saturn's ringplane. It nicely shows a near-arm/far-arm brightness asymmetry in the B ring: The near arm of the B ring (in the lower half of the image) is notably darker from this viewing geometry than is the far arm (above). Imaging scientists believe this to be a manifestation of the reflection of light from the disk of Saturn falling predominantly on the far arm of the rings. (At the time this image was taken, Cassini was more or less on the dark side of the planet.) As the B ring is the thickest part of Saturn's rings, it scatters less sunlight from below, and reflects more Saturn shine from above, than either the A or C rings, making the effect look more dramatic in the B ring. Two small moons appear in this scene as well: Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) is visible above and left of center and outside the A ring, Pandora (84 kilometers, or 52 miles across) can be seen near upper right beyond the F ring. Between the two moons lie multiple clumps of material in the F ring. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1 million kilometers (600,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 128 degrees. Image scale is 58 kilometers (36 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 28, 2006 |
|
The Ring Sculptor
| Description |
The Ring Sculptor |
| Full Description |
+ View Movie Prometheus zooms across the Cassini spacecraft's field of view, attended by faint streamers and deep gores in Saturn's F ring. This movie sequence of five images shows the F ring shepherd moon shaping the ring's inner edge. Note that the faint ringlet coincident with the orbit of Prometheus (102 kilometers, or 63 miles across) decreases sharply in brightness behind the moon in its path. The normally twisted-looking F ring core is overexposed in the images, causing its appearance to be more uniform than it usually is. The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 11, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 162 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 8, 2006 |
|
Penumbral Fade
| Description |
Penumbral Fade |
| Full Description |
As the particles comprising Saturn's A ring slip into the planet's shadow, they find themselves briefly in the penumbra of Saturn's shadow. In this very narrow region along the edge of the shadow, part (but not all) of the Sun is still visible around the side of the planet, creating only a partial shadow there and making the shadow edge look fuzzy. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 26, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (900,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 9 kilometers (5 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 30, 2006 |
|
Blasted Mimas
| Description |
Blasted Mimas |
| Full Description |
Mimas plows along in its orbit, its pockmarked surface in crisp relief. The bright, steep walls of the enormous crater, Herschel (130 kilometers, or 80 miles wide), gleam in the sunlight. The lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemisphere of Mimas (397 kilometers, or 247 miles across). North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 80 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 11, 2006 |
|
Saturn and Earth Ready for C
…
| Description |
SOHO images show Saturn on the left moving toward the Sun |
| Full Description |
Saturn has a date to keep with Earth and the Sun. Since the Cassini spacecraft is orbiting Saturn, it's tagging along. Once a year Saturn and Earth find themselves almost directly opposite each other with the Sun in between, an event called conjunction. This year, conjunction will occur on Aug. 7. NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, known as SOHO (http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/), keeps close watch on the Sun. SOHO images show Saturn on the left moving toward the Sun, which is shielded from view but represented by a white circle in the image center. When Saturn emerges from conjunction, it will appear in SOHO images heading toward the right and away from Sun. As Earth and Saturn play peekaboo with each other, radio communications with Cassini get very noisy, so most of Cassini's science operations are temporarily suspended. "We'll still be in constant communication," says David Doody, Cassini flight operations lead, "and we'll see the quality degrading as it nears the Sun. The last high-rate science data playback, at 14,220 bits per second, will occur Aug. 4, after which Cassini switches to low-rate telemetry downlink, at 1896 bps." During conjunction, the mission switches gears. "Finally, a break," says Doody. "We know the spacecraft is safe, especially since it won't be doing lots of commanded science activities, instead just staring at Earth with its high gain antenna. We'll be carrying out radio science studies of the solar corona, using carrier signals coming down from Cassini to study the sun's extended, super-hot atmosphere. Meanwhile, the spacecraft team's radio communications engineers will watch how many out of 100 test commands sent each day are received aboard the spacecraft with the noisy Sun in the way.""We'll also be using this low-activity period to conduct an operational readiness test, realistic training using contrived problems, for many of the new members of the flight team," adds Doody. Cassini will resume returning high-rate science data on Aug. 10, when it is well past the Sun. Note for sky watchers: The first time that Saturn will be visible again to the unaided eye from here on Earth will be about two weeks after conjunction. On the morning of Aug. 20, Saturn will rise in the east an hour before the sun does. Early birds in the United States will be able to spot swift Mercury one degree above Saturn. The next morning, they can spot Mercury one degree to the lower left of the planet. On Aug. 26 and 27 Saturn pairs with much brighter Venus. To see the latest image from SOHO click here. |
| Date |
August 3, 2006 |
|
Night on Saturn
| Description |
Night on Saturn |
| Full Description |
The night skies of Saturn are graced by the planet's dazzling rings, but as this image shows, one's view could be very different depending on the season and from which hemisphere one gazes up. This point of view shows that the southern hemisphere is much brighter on the planet's night side than the northern hemisphere, owing to the brilliance of sunlight reflecting off the southern illuminated rings. The northern hemisphere sees only the ghostly glow of the dim scattered light that manages to penetrate the rings. The planet's shadow eclipses the rings themselves in the lower half of this scene, but close inspection shows ringlets in the C ring silhouetted against the southern latitudes. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on July 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 952,000 kilometers (592,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 124 degrees. Image scale is 53 kilometers (33 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 25, 2006 |
|
August 2006: View of the Pla
…
| Description |
August 2006: View of the Planets |
| Full Description |
Just before the eastern sky brightens with sunrise, three planets and the waning crescent moon join the starry twilight tapestry. Then, as the bright stars of Gemini and Orion fade with oncoming dawn, the planets rise and shine. About 45 minutes before sunrise on Aug. 20 to 22 the planets Venus, Mercury and Saturn dance on the ecliptic -- the plane of Earth's orbit and the imaginary line tracing it in the sky. The sun, moon and planets appear to move along this line. Venus, rising an hour and a half before sunrise, is the easiest to see in the morning sky. Two hundred forty-one million kilometers (150 million miles) distant, Venus is Earth-sized. Mercury, at a distance of 183 million kilometers (114 million miles), is the fastest and smallest of the inner planets and appears brighter than the more distant Saturn. Saturn, 1,517 million kilometers (943 million miles) distant, was at conjunction with the sun just two weeks ago and now rises nearly an hour before sunrise. On Aug. 26 and 27, Saturn pairs with much brighter Venus at dawn. What other planets can we see in late August? Mars sets 45 minutes after sunset by month's end but is lost from view in the twilight, while brilliant Jupiter remains prominent as the only planet visible for a few hours during the late August evenings. Credit: NASA/JPL |
| Date |
August 18, 2006 |
|
Janus Hides in Plain Sight
| Description |
Janus Hides in Plain Sight |
| Full Description |
Tiny, dust-sized particles in Saturn's rings become much easier to see at high phase angle -- the angle formed by the Sun, the rings and the spacecraft. The brightest ring at the right is the F ring, the next feature to the left is the outer edge of the A ring. Inward of that, and very bright, are the ringlets in the Encke gap. Epimetheus (116 kilometers, or 72 miles across) is easy to spot just right of the outer F ring edge. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across), however, is quite a bit harder to make out, it is the dark spot located directly to the left of Epimetheus, above the gap between the A and F rings. Within the space between the A and F rings there are two faint rings seen previously by the Cassini spacecraft. The inner faint ring (called R/2004 S1) coincides with the orbit of Atlas. The outer one forms the inner boundary of the orbit of Prometheus. The narrow G ring is visible above and below the bright F ring. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 15, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Epimetheus and 2.8 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Janus. The view was acquired at a Sun-Epimetheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 164 degrees. Image scale is 16 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
August 16, 2006 |
|
Shadow and Shade
| Description |
Shadow and Shade |
| Full Description |
This moody true color portrait of Saturn shows a world that can, at times, seem as serene and peaceful as it is frigid and hostile. Saturn's unlit-side rings embrace the planet while their shadows caress the northern hemisphere. Janus (181 kilometers, or 113 miles across) is a mere speck below the rings, just left of the terminator. The view was obtained from about 15 degrees above the ringplane as Cassini continued its climb to higher orbital inclinations. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The image was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 18, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 137 degrees. Image scale is 76 kilometers (47 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 18, 2006 |
|
Pale Blue Orb (1)
| Description |
Pale Blue Orb |
| Full Description |
Not since NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft saw our home as a pale blue dot from beyond the orbit of Neptune has Earth been imaged in color from the outer solar system. Now, Cassini casts powerful eyes on our home planet, and captures Earth, a pale blue orb -- and a faint suggestion of our moon -- among the glories of the Saturn system. Earth is captured here in a natural color portrait made possible by the passing of Saturn directly in front of the sun from Cassini's point of view. At the distance of Saturn's orbit, Earth is too narrowly separated from the sun for the spacecraft to safely point its cameras and other instruments toward its birthplace without protection from the sun's glare. The Earth-and-moon system is visible as a bright blue point on the right side of the image above center. Here, Cassini is looking down on the Atlantic Ocean and the western coast of north Africa. The phase angle of Earth, seen from Cassini is about 30 degrees. A magnified view of the image taken through the clear filter (monochrome) shows the moon as a dim protrusion to the upper left of Earth. Seen from the outer solar system through Cassini's cameras, the entire expanse of direct human experience, so far, is nothing more than a few pixels across. Earth no longer holds the distinction of being our solar system's only "water world," as several other bodies suggest the possibility that they too harbor liquid water beneath their surfaces. The Saturnian moon, Enceladus, is among them, and is also captured on the left in this image (see inset), with its plume of water ice particles and swathed in the blue E ring which it creates. Delicate fingers of material extend from the active moon into the E ring. See Ghostly Fingers of Enceladus, for a more detailed view of these newly-revealed features. The narrow tenuous G ring and the main rings are seen at the right. The view looks down from about 15 degrees above the un-illuminated side of the rings. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this view. The image was taken by the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 15, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft angle of almost 179 degrees. Image scale is 129 kilometers (80 miles) per pixel. At this time, Cassini was nearly 1.5 billion kilometers (930 million miles) from Earth. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ., The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 19, 2006 |
|
Duotone Moon
| Description |
Duotone Moon |
| Full Description |
The many impact scars borne by Iapetus are made far more conspicuous in the region of transition from its dark hemisphere to its bright one. In this terrain, the dark material that coats Cassini Regio accentuates slopes and crater floors, creating a land of stark contrasts. North on Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across) is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 6, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Iapetus and at a Sun- Iapetus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 26 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 25, 2006 |
|
Dim Details on Dione
| Description |
Dim Details on Dione |
| Full Description |
Cassini whizzed past Dione on Aug. 16, 2006, capturing this slightly motion-blurred view of the moon's fractured and broken landscape in reflected light from Saturn. The motion blur is a result of the long exposure time used to capture dim light from the moon's night side. The many canyons on Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across) rip through more ancient craters. Some medium-sized craters, like the one right of center, have several others overprinted onto them. This view shows southern terrain on the moon's trailing hemisphere. The gleaming, sunlit crescent is overexposed at bottom. North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 157,000 kilometers (98,000 miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 129 degrees. Image scale is 935 meters (3,067 feet) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 13, 2006 |
|
Surging Onward
| Description |
Surging Onward |
| Full Description |
+ See Movie A brilliant spot of sunlight, the opposition effect, travels outward across the rings as the Cassini spacecraft orbits Saturn. This surge in ring brightness is created around the point directly opposite the Sun from the spacecraft. See explanation of the opposition effect in Opposition Surge on the A Ring. This movie sequence of 29 images shows the opposition surge moving from the outer B ring, across the sparsely populated Cassini Division and onto the A ring. From Cassini's perspective, the rings are seen projected onto the planet where the ring shadows can be seen through the rings. This perspective, including rings and ring shadows, changes continuously during the sequence, giving the false impression that the ring features themselves are changing. This image sequence was taken over 15 minutes on Aug. 16, 2006. The images were acquired in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 253,000 kilometers (157,000 miles) from Saturn. Image scale is 15 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 14, 2006 |
|
Clouds at Dawn
| Description |
Clouds at Dawn |
| Full Description |
Saturn's clouds billow and swirl in the turbulent zones of shear between eastward- and westward-flowing jets. This view looks toward the terminator on Saturn, where night gives way to day. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 728 nanometers. The image was obtained with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 16, 2006 at a distance of approximately 338,000 kilometers (210,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 67 degrees. Image scale is 17 kilometers (10 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 20, 2006 |
|
Titan's Halo
| Description |
Titan's Halo |
| Full Description |
Titan's murky atmosphere shines as a halo of scattered light. Prior to the Cassini spacecraft's arrival, Titan remained incognito, swathed in its impenetrable envelope of frigid gases. Now, gradually but relentlessly, the veil continues to fall away under Cassini's gaze, bringing the wonders of this world into view. North on Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is up. The image was taken using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 938 nanometers. The image was acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 10, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.1 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 165 degrees. Image scale is 18 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 21, 2006 |
|
Helene's Close-up
| Description |
Helene's Close-up |
| Full Description |
This set of images exposes details on small and crumpled-looking Helene. Large portions of this Trojan moon of Dione appear to have been blasted away by impacts. Cassini passed within 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) of Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) on Aug. 17, 2006, when these images were acquired. The views were obtained over the course of an hour, and are presented here in reverse order (i.e., the leftmost image was taken latest). The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. As presented here, the views were acquired at distances ranging from 62,000 to 51,000 kilometers (39,000 to 32,000 miles) from Helene and at a Sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111 to 120 degrees. Image scale is 375 to 300 meters (1,230 to 984 feet) per pixel, from left to right. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 15, 2006 |
|
The Janus/Epimetheus Ring
| Description |
The Janus/Epimetheus Ring |
| Full Description |
A new diffuse ring, coincident with the orbits of Saturn's moon's Janus and Epimetheus, has been revealed in ultra-high phase angle views from Cassini. Ultra-high phase angle indicates the sun is behind the target. The new ring is visible in this image (marked by a cross in the inset) outside the overexposed main rings and interior to the G and E rings. The G ring has a sharp inner boundary, the E ring is extremely broad and arcs across the upper and lower portions of the scene. While it is not unexpected that impact events on Janus and Epimetheus might kick particles off the moons' surfaces and inject them into Saturn orbit, it is, surprising that a well-defined structure exists at this location. The view looks down from about 15 degrees above the un-illuminated side of the rings. Some faint spokes can also be spotted in the main rings, made visible by sunlight diffusing through the B ring. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 15, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn and at a sun-Saturn-spacecraft angle of almost 179 degrees. Image scale is approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 19, 2006 |
|
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 |
|
The Color of Darkness
| Description |
The Color of Darkness |
| Full Description |
Sunlight filters through Saturn's rings in sepia tones in this artful view from the Cassini spacecraft of the dark side of the rings. Those rays from the sun directly reflected from the lit side of the rings onto the planet strike and illuminate the night-side southern hemisphere. The densely populated B ring blocks much of the Sun's light and thus looks quite dark. Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is a mere sliver below left. Unprocessed wide-angle camera images taken in a high-phase viewing geometry generally contain stray light artifacts. These have largely been removed from this image by computer image processing. Cassini was about 3 degrees above the ringplane when this image was obtained on Sept. 6, 2006. Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were taken using the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of approximately 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 154 degrees. Image scale is 106 kilometers (66 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 6, 2006 |
|
In Saturn's Shadow (Color-ex
…
| Description |
In Saturn's Shadow (Color-exagerated view) |
| Full Description |
+ Original version + Image with labels With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world. This marvelous panoramic view was created by combining a total of 165 images taken by the Cassini wide-angle camera over nearly three hours on Sept. 15, 2006. The full mosaic consists of three rows of nine wide-angle camera footprints, only a portion of the full mosaic is shown here. Color in the view was created by digitally compositing ultraviolet, infrared and clear filter images and was then adjusted to resemble natural color. The mosaic images were acquired as the spacecraft drifted in the darkness of Saturn's shadow for about 12 hours, allowing a multitude of unique observations of the microscopic particles that compose Saturn's faint rings. Ring structures containing these tiny particles brighten substantially at high phase angles: i.e., viewing angles where the sun is almost directly behind the objects being imaged. During this period of observation Cassini detected two new faint rings: one coincident with the shared orbit of the moons Janus and Epimetheus, and another coincident with Pallene's orbit. (See The Janus/Epimetheus Ring and Moon-Made Rings for more on the two new rings.) The narrowly confined G ring is easily seen here, outside the bright main rings. Encircling the entire system is the much more extended E ring. The icy plumes of Enceladus, whose eruptions supply the E ring particles, betray the moon's position in the E ring's left-side edge. Interior to the G ring and above the brighter main rings is the pale dot of Earth. Cassini views its point of origin from over a billion kilometers (and close to a billion miles) away in the icy depths of the outer solar system. See Pale Blue Orb for a similar view of Earth taken during this observation. Small grains are pushed about by sunlight and electromagnetic forces. Hence their distribution tells much about the local space environment. A second version of the mosaic view is presented here in which the color contrast is greatly exaggerated. In such views, imaging scientists have noticed color variations across the diffuse rings that imply active processes sort the particles in the ring according to their sizes. Looking at the E ring in this color-exaggerated view, the distribution of color across and along the ring appears to be different between the right side and the left. Scientists are not sure yet how to explain these differences, though the difference in phase angle between right and left may be part of the explanation. The phase angle is about 179 degrees on Saturn. The main rings are overexposed in a few places. This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 15 degrees above the ringplane. Cassini was approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn when the, images in this mosaic were taken. Image scale on Saturn is about 260 kilometers (162 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 11, 2006 |
|
Transition on Tethys
| Description |
Transition on Tethys |
| Full Description |
An extreme false-color view of Tethys reveals a surface detail not visible in a monochrome view taken at the same time. The false-color view shows a color transition from the moon's Saturn-facing side (at left) to a region its trailing side (at bottom). Near the top of the images, the central-peaked crater Telemachus lies in the deeply grooved terrain that marks the northern reaches of Ithaca Chasma. To create the false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superposed over a clear-filter image that preserves the relative brightness across the body. The combination of color map and brightness image shows how colors vary across Tethys' surface. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy surface material. The monochrome image was taken using a clear filter. North on Tethys (1,071 kilometers, or 665 miles across) is up and rotated 36 degrees to the right. The images used to create this view were acquired using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 221,000 kilometers (137,000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 52 degrees. Image scale is 1 kilometer (4,332 feet) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 10, 2006 |
|
Enigma in Ice
| Description |
Enigma in Ice |
| Full Description |
Cassini spies the wrinkled, fractured and remarkably crater-poor terrain of Enceladus. Scientists are working to understand what causes the moon's surprising geologic activity (see Fountains of Enceladus). North on Enceladus (505 kilometers, 314 miles across) is up and rotated 20 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 8, 2006 at a distance of approximately 560,000 kilometers (348,000 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun- Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 103 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
September 28, 2006 |
|
The Spoke Search
| Description |
The Spoke Search |
| Full Description |
A group of bright spokes tightly cluster together in Saturn's B ring. The spokes seen here generally all exhibit the same degree of shearing, or tilting, but some deviations are apparent. In this image, the direction to Saturn is downward, orbital motion is to the left. Ring scientists are eager for data to help them understand and eventually explain how these mysterious ring features are created. To that end, Cassini has been directed to acquire movie sequences, like the one this image is part of, that watch for these elusive radial structures. This observation focused on the morning side of the rings, the side where the rings are rotating out from Saturn's shadow. Spokes appear most frequently at this location. Also barely visible in this image are broader, much fainter but still bright radial regions that extend over larger radial distances than the spokes in the upper left. Where these fainter features cross ringlets in the lower part of the image, slight variations in brightness are apparent. These are probably due to tiny particles, possibly part of a former spoke, that haven't yet settled down onto the ring plane. Although their formation is still a subject of inquiry, scientists are confident that the microscopic spoke particles are slightly electrically charged and therefore are influenced by Saturn's magnetic field. The brightness of the spokes, when combined with viewing geometry information and estimates of their particle sizes can help researchers determine the amount of material in the spokes--a crucial quantity to constrain theories of spoke formation. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 28, 2006, at a distance of approximately 1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 147 degrees. Scale in the original image was about 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel. The view has been magnified by a factor of two. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 5, 2006 |
|
Moon-Made Rings (with labels
…
| Description |
Moon-Made Rings (with labels) |
| Full Description |
This view, acquired with the sun almost directly behind Saturn, reveals a previously unknown faint ring of material coincident with the orbit of the small moon Pallene. Another new, diffuse ring seen here was previously announced (see The Janus/Epimetheus Ring), and is coincident with the orbits of Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus. This viewing geometry makes microscopic, icy ring particles brighten substantially. Cassini spent nearly 12 hours in Saturn's shadow on Sept. 15, 2006, making observations like this one. The new Pallene ring is a faint narrow band, about 2,500 kilometers (about 1,550 miles) across, between the E ring and the G ring. The Janus/Epimetheus ring is visible between the G ring and the bright main rings and is about 5,000 kilometer (3,100 miles) wide. The labels show the locations of these features. Pallene, discovered by Cassini's imaging cameras earlier in the mission, is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) across. Pallene orbits Saturn between the moons Mimas and Enceladus. The bright dot in the Pallene ring is not the tiny moon, but rather is a background star. While it is not unexpected that impact events on Janus, Epimetheus, and Pallene might kick particles off the moons' surfaces and inject them into Saturn orbit, it is, however, surprising that these structures are so well-defined. The view looks down from about 15 degrees above the dark side of the rings. Some faint spokes can also be spotted in the main rings, made visible by sunlight diffusing through the B ring. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 15, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft angle of almost 179 degrees. Image scale is approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 11, 2006 |
|
Moon-Made Rings
| Description |
Moon-Made Rings |
| Full Description |
This view, acquired with the sun almost directly behind Saturn, reveals a previously unknown faint ring of material coincident with the orbit of the small moon Pallene. Another new, diffuse ring seen here was previously announced (see The Janus/Epimetheus Ring), and is coincident with the orbits of Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus. This viewing geometry makes microscopic, icy ring particles brighten substantially. Cassini spent nearly 12 hours in Saturn's shadow on Sept. 15, 2006, making observations like this one. The new Pallene ring is a faint narrow band, about 2,500 kilometers (about 1,550 miles) across, between the E ring and the G ring. The Janus/Epimetheus ring is visible between the G ring and the bright main rings and is about 5,000 kilometer (3,100 miles) wide. A labeled version of this view shows the locations of these features. Pallene, discovered by Cassini's imaging cameras earlier in the mission, is 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) across. Pallene orbits Saturn between the moons Mimas and Enceladus. The bright dot in the Pallene ring is not the tiny moon, but rather is a background star. While it is not unexpected that impact events on Janus, Epimetheus, and Pallene might kick particles off the moons' surfaces and inject them into Saturn orbit, it is, however, surprising that these structures are so well-defined. The view looks down from about 15 degrees above the dark side of the rings. Some faint spokes can also be spotted in the main rings, made visible by sunlight diffusing through the B ring. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 15, 2006, at a distance of approximately 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft angle of almost 179 degrees. Image scale is approximately 250 kilometers (155 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 11, 2006 |
|
A Folded Surface
| Description |
A Folded Surface |
| Full Description |
The wrinkled border of Enceladus' south polar region snakes across this view, separating fresher, younger terrain from more ancient, cratered provinces. This is the region of Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across) that is known to be presently geologically active. At right are clearly visible ridges and troughs thought to be caused by compressional stresses across the icy surface. The image was taken in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 66,000 kilometers (41,000 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 104 degrees. Image scale is 396 meters (1,300 feet) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 4, 2006 |
|
Rounding the Corner
| Description |
Rounding the Corner |
| Full Description |
+ View Movie A movie sequence of Saturn's G ring over a full orbital revolution captures its single bright arc on the ring's inner edge. The movie is composed of 70 individual narrow-angle camera images taken during a period of just over 20 hours while Cassini stared at the ring. The orbital period for particles in the center of the G ring is about 19.6 hours. At the beginning of the sequence, the ring arc, a site of concentrated ring particles, is seen rounding the ring edge. The arc orbits at a distance of 167,496 kilometers (104,080 miles). It is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) wide in radius and subtends less than 60 degrees of orbital longitude. The classical position of the G ring is about 172,600 kilometers (107,250 miles) from Saturn, and the arc blends smoothly into this region. Scientists suspect that bodies trapped in this remarkably bright feature may be the source of the G ring material, driven outward from the arc by electromagnetic forces in the Saturn system. The arc itself is likely held in place by gravitational resonances with Mimas of the type that anchor the famed arcs in Neptune's rings. There is an obvious narrow dark gap in the G ring beyond the arc. This feature is close to yet another resonance with Mimas, but no arcs are present at this locale. This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 10 degrees above the ringplane. Imaging artifacts jitter within the scene, a result of the high phase angle and faintness of the G ring. Stars slide across the background from upper left to lower right. The images in this movie were taken on Sept. 19 and 20 at a distance of approximately 2.1 to 2.2 million kilometers (1.3 to 1.4 million miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-G ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle that ranged from 167 to 164 degrees. Image scale is about 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel in the radial (outward from Saturn) direction. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 11, 2006 |
|
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 |
|
Half-lit Enceladus
| Description |
Half-lit Enceladus |
| Full Description |
A world whose mysteries are just coming to light, Enceladus has enchanted scientists and non-scientists alike. With its potential for near-surface liquid water, the icy moon may be the latest addition to the list of possible abodes for life. The view was acquired about two-and-a-half hours after A Folded Surface, during an encounter with Enceladus (505 kilometers, or 314 miles across). The image was taken using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of polarized ultraviolet light. The Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera acquired the view on Sept. 9, 2006 at a distance of approximately 141,000 kilometers (87,600 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 96 degrees. Image scale is 850 meters (0.5 mile) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 12, 2006 |
|
Dione's Creeping Canyons
| Description |
Dione's Creeping Canyons |
| Full Description |
Bright fractures creep across the surface of icy Dione. This extensive canyon system is centered on a region of terrain that is significantly darker than the rest of the moon. Part of the darker terrain is visible at right. Lit terrain in this view is on the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across). North is up and rotated eight degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 25, 2006 at a distance of approximately 677,000 kilometers (421,000 miles) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 62 degrees. Image scale is 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute |
| Date |
October 23, 2006 |
|
|
