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Titan-PIA07877.jpgA bright Red Spot on Titan (2)54 visiteThis dramatic color (but not true color) image was taken during the April 16, 2005, encounter with Titan. North is to the right. In the center it shows the dark lanes of the "H"-shaped feature discovered from Earth and first seen by Cassini last July shortly after it arrived in the Saturn system. At the southwestern edge of the "H" feature, near Titan's limb, is an area roughly 500 Km across. That area is 50% brighter when viewed using light with a wavelength of 5 microns, than the bright continent-sized area known as Xanadu. At wavelengths shorter than 5 microns, the spot is not unusually bright. The strange spectral character of this enigmatic feature has left the Team with 4 possibilities for its source: the spot could be a surface coloration, a mountain range, a cloud or a hot spot. The hot spot hypothesis will be tested during a Titan flyby on July 2, 2006, when the visual and infrared spectrometer will take nighttime images of this area. If it is hot, it will glow at night.
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Titan-PIA07878-Titan_sOddSpot.jpgThe "Odd-Spot" on Titan (detail mgnf)55 visiteLa 'Nuvola Permanente': una nuova ed incredibile scoperta su Titano che apre nuovi orizzonti ai panorami di pseudo-certezze che la maggior parte dei Ricercatori si stavano costruendo relativamente a questa "Terra in fieri" (una bella definizione per Titano, nata dopo che sono stati visionati i frames relativi ai primi passaggi ravvicinati della Sonda Cassini e dopo il landing dell'Huygens Probe).
Alla NASA hanno già fatto delle ipotesi; qualcuna plausibile - un uragano permanente - e qualche altra, diciamo così... , un pò "forzata" - tipo la vetta luminosa di una mega-montagna.
E se fosse un 'pennacchio' di fumo, ceneri e polveri - spesso e denso - proveniente da un vulcano attivo (il 'cuore caldo' del Pianeta...)?
E' così improponibile pensare ad un vulcano e, quindi, ad un Pianeta geologicamente attivo?!?
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Titan-PIA08126.jpgShining through the Rings...54 visiteCaption originale:"Titan's smoggy atmosphere glows brilliantly in scattered Sunlight, creating a thin, gleaming crescent beyond Saturn's Rings. At this slight angle above the Ring-Plane, the thin F-Ring shines brightly. Light from Titan's eastern and western limbs (edges) penetrates the Cassini Division, which looks like a thin gap from this angle.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 18, 2006, at a distance of approx. 1 MKM (such as about 600.000 miles) from Saturn. Planet-sized Titan (5.150 Km, or 3,200 miles across) was 2,2 MKM (about 1,4 MMs) from Cassini at that time. The image scale is 13 Km (8 miles) per pixel on Titan".
Nota: crediamo che sia la prima volta in cui la NASA, nel fornire i dati contingenti sul frame (ivi, in particolare, la distanza Sonda-Oggetto Ripreso), aggiunge la precisazione "...at that time...".
Ci teniamo a sottolineare che questo tipo di precisazione (a nostro parere fondamentale per far capire a tutti i Lettori - e soprattutto ai più giovani - che la "staticità" non appartiene al Cosmo) l'abbiamo introdotta noi, come Lun-Ex-It, in sede di integrazione dei dettati (captions) originali dei frames relativi a Saturno ed al suo Sistema.
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Titan-PIA08137.jpgHaze-layers and a bright "spot", from 2,3 MKM!55 visiteLe nebbie di Titano sono ormai una realtà acquisita e consolidata, ma le Singolarità Atmosferiche (non sappiamo come altro chiamarle, per ora...) che la Sonda Cassini, di tanto in tanto, riesce a fotografare mentre si sporgono attraverso le nuvole di questo pianeta, costituiscono ancora un mistero. In questo frame, cerchiato in bianco, un "qualcosa" che emerge dalla densa atmosfera di Titano e che non è stato censurato dagli "Amici di Pasadena". Non si tratta, per ovvi motivi, di un rilievo superficiale e non è neppure un photoartifact (ormai avete anche Voi esperienza sufficiente per riconoscere "ictu oculi" un artefatto fotografico da un oggetto reale).
E' una Sonda Aliena in ricognizione? E' una "plume" vulcanica o magari una "nuvola colonnare" (evento più unico che raro nell'intero Sistema Solare)?
Che cosa stiamo guardando, in realtà?!?...
This composite of 24 images from the Cassini spacecraft shows multiple layers in Titan's stratospheric haze. The most prominent layer is located about 500 Km above the surface and is seen at all latitudes, encircling the moon. The material in this layer is probably a condensed substance, possibly water ice.
Several other layers are most apparent in the north polar hood (at top), but this view also shows some at other latitudes. The mechanisms that produce these layers are not understood, but waves in the atmosphere are thought to play a significant role.
The images in this composite were taken over a period of 23 minutes. The images were processed to enhance fine detail and then were combined to create this view. North on Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) is up.
The images were taken in visible light with the narrow-angle camera on Jan. 27, 2006 at a distance of approximately 2.3 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 155 degrees. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.
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Titan-PIA08157.jpgTitan & Epimetheus54 visiteCaption originale:"This poetic scene shows the giant, smog-enshrouded moon Titan behind Saturn's nearly edge-on Rings.
Much smaller Epimetheus (116 Km - or 72 miles - across) is just visible to the left of Titan (5.150 Km - or 3.200 - miles across).
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 9, 2006, at a distance of approx. 4,1 MKM (such as about 2,5 MMs) from Titan. The image scale is 25 Km (about 16 miles) per pixel on Titan. The brightness of Epimetheus was enhanced for visibility purposes".
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Titan-PIA08167-PCF-LXTT.jpgTitan's foggy Northern "Cap" (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)123 visiteCaption NASA:"The complex and dynamic Atmosphere of Titan displays multiple Haze Layers near the North Pole in this view, which also provides an excellent look at the detached Stratospheric Haze Layer that surrounds the moon at lower Latitudes.
North on Titan is up and rotated 20° to the left.
The image was taken with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 16, 2006, using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of UltraViolet Light centered at 338 nanometers. The image was obtained at a distance of approx. 1,2 MKM (about 800.000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-Spacecraft, or Phase, Angle of 68°. Image scale is approx. 7 Km (such as about 5 miles) per pixel". MareKromium
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Titan-PIA08167.jpgTitan's foggy Northern "Cap" (Original NASA/JPL/SSI b/w RAW Frame)54 visiteCaption NASA:"The complex and dynamic Atmosphere of Titan displays multiple Haze Layers near the North Pole in this view, which also provides an excellent look at the detached Stratospheric Haze Layer that surrounds the moon at lower Latitudes.
North on Titan is up and rotated 20° to the left.
The image was taken with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 16, 2006, using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of UltraViolet Light centered at 338 nanometers. The image was obtained at a distance of approx. 1,2 MKM (about 800.000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-Spacecraft, or Phase, Angle of 68°. Image scale is approx. 7 Km (such as about 5 miles) per pixel".
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Titan-PIA08188.jpgMellow Yellow...64 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Saturn's largest moon, Titan, peaks out from under the Planet's Rings of ice.
This view looks toward Titan from slightly beneath the Ring-Plane. The dark Encke Gap (325 Km, or 200 miles wide) is visible here, as is the narrow F-Ring.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view.
The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1,8 MKM (such as 1,1 MMs) from Titan. Image scale is approx. 11 Km (about 7 miles) per pixel on Titan".
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Titan-PIA08211.jpgIn the lights: Titan, Janus and the Rings...63 visiteCaption NASA:"Dazzling Titan glows with a 360° Sunset as light scatters through its very extended atmosphere. Some structure is visible in the hazes of the Northern Polar Hood.
To the left is Janus (181 Km, or 113 miles across), far off on the opposite side of the Ring-Plane. The Rings show their unlit side to Cassini, as the spacecraft viewed them from slightly above the ringplane.
A world with strikingly Earth-like physical processes, frigid Titan is Saturn's largest natural satellite, at 5.150 Km (about 3.200 miles) across. Titan's image is saturated (cosiddetto "effetto goccia di luce") at the 5 o'clock position.
The view was acquired in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 2, 2006 at a distance of approx. 2,3 MKM (such as about 1,5 MMs) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 163°. Cassini was 3,7 MKM (about 2,3 MMs) from Janus. Image scale is roughly 14 Km (about 9 miles) per pixel on Titan and approx. 22 Km (about 14 miles) on Janus".
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Titan-PIA08214.jpgHaze and saturation55 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Sunlight streams through the high-altitude haze layer that extends completely around the giant moon, Titan, in this view of the moon taken by the Cassini spacecraft. Some fine structure can be spotted in the ever-shifting hazes in Titan's Northern Polar reaches to the top.
The distant sky beyond Titan is not empty, but instead is filled in the lower half by the barely visible, immense bulk of Saturn, 1,3 MKM (such as approx. 800.000 miles) beyond. The view is toward the night side of both worlds.
Titan's image is saturated, or over exposed, near the five o'clock position, obscuring the details in the atmosphere.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 2, 2006 at a distance of approx. 2,3 MKM (about 1,4 MMs) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft angle of 163°. Image scale is roughly 14 Km (about 9 miles) per pixel on Titan".
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Titan-PIA08219.jpgTitan through the Rings54 visiteCaption NASA originale:"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 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 approx. 5,3 MKM (about 3,3 MMs) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 158°. Image scale is roughly 32 Km (about 20 miles) per pixel on Titan".
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Titan-PIA08221.jpgWhen Giants meet...55 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Saturn's two largest moons meet in the sky in a rare embrace. Smog-enshrouded Titan (5.150 Km, or 3,200 miles across) glows to the left of airless Rhea (1.528 Km, 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 approx. 3,6 MKM (about 2,2 MMs) from Rhea and 5,3 MKM (about 3,3 MMs) from Titan.
The Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle is 157° on Rhea.
Image scale is about 22 Km (approx. 13 miles) per pixel on Rhea and 32 Km (approx. 20 miles) per pixel on Titan".
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