Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons
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Hyperion-PIA07768.jpg"Meri Crater"53 visiteSaturn's moon Hyperion's crater, Meri, blooms in this extreme color-enhanced view. Meri is overprinted by a couple of smaller craters and displays dark material on its floor that is characteristic of many impact sites on this moon. The walls of craters seen here are noticeably smoother on their sloping sides than around their craggy rims.
To create this false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single black and white picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superimposed over a clear-filter image. The combination of color map and brightness image shows how the colors vary across the moon's surface in relation to geologic features.
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 soil. The images used to create this false-color view were acquired on 09-26-2005, at a mean distance of 17.900 Km from Hyperion. Image scale is about 110 meters (360 feet) per pixel.
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Hyperion-PIA08240.jpgPink Hyperion...72 visiteCaption NASA originale:"Unlike most of the dull grey moons in the Solar System, Hyperion's color is a rosy tan (---> Light Pink), as this view shows.
The origin of the moon's unusual hue is not known. Some scientists suspect the color comes from falling debris from moons further out.
A similar origin has been suggested for the dark reddish material on Saturn's moon Iapetus.
Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2006 at a distance of approx. 291.000 Km (about 181.000 miles) from Hyperion. Image scale is roughly 2 Km (a little more than 1 mile) per pixel".
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Hyperion-PIA08904.jpgPumice-Hyperion (natural colors - elab. Lunexit)53 visiteCaption NASA:"Chaotically tumbling and seriously eroded by impacts, Hyperion is one of Saturn's more unusual satellites. Scientists believe the moon to be quite porous, with a great deal of its volume being empty space.
(...) Only part of the moon is visible in this image, the rest being hidden in shadow.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 930 nanometers. The view was acquired on Feb. 15, 2007 from a distance of approx. 224.000 Km (such as about 139.000 miles) from Hyperion.
Image scale is roughly 1 Km (4.404 feet) per pixel".
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Hyperion-PIA09214.jpgWhat's all over Hyperion? (context image)63 visiteCaption NASA:"Hyperion, the eighth largest of Saturn's nearly 60 known moons, is covered in craters and landslides. Sprinkled over the icy surface is a thin layer of organic dust, which has somehow been concentrated in the bottoms of some of the craters, forming a reddish/black deposit.
This new color map shows the composition of a portion of Hyperion's surface determined with the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer aboard the Cassini spacecraft. The new composition map is overlaid onto a previously released Cassini image of Hyperion, taken with the Imaging Science Subsystem.
(...) Discovered in 1848, Hyperion held its secrets until the Cassini spacecraft flew close in September 2005, revealing its icy and organic composition.
Hyperion is irregular in shape, tumbles chaotically, and takes 21 days to orbit Saturn. It is 300 Km (about 180 miles) in its longest dimension".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA09215.jpgWhat's all over Hyperion? (extra-detail mgnf)53 visiteCaption NASA:"This is a color map of the composition of a portion of Saturn's moon Hyperion's surface about 75 Km (approx. 45 miles) on a side.
In this map, blue shows the maximum exposure of Frozen Water (H2O), red denotes Carbon Dioxide (CO2) ice ("dry ice"), magenta indicates regions of Water plus CO2, yellow is a mix of CO2 and an unidentified material.
This map was made with data from the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer aboard the Cassini spacecraft during its flyby of Hyperion in September 2005".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA09216.jpgCold Hyperion...53 visiteCaption NASA:"In this ultraviolet image of Hyperion, produced using data taken with Cassini's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph during the September 2005 close flyby, brightness contrasts are due to both topographic and compositional variations across the surface. The brightest regions are exposed water ice in the rim of the crater that dominates the hemisphere in view.
This new ultraviolet map (left) is shown next to a previously released image (right) taken by the Imaging Science Subsystem".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA09790.jpgHyperion: the "Floating Column"53 visiteCaption NASA:"Saturn's irregularly shaped moon Hyperion is completely covered with large pits from which much of its material has been blasted by impacts, never to return. The moon's surface gravity is so low that crater-ejected material often escapes Hyperion entirely.
Hyperion is 280 Km (about 174 miles) across on average.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 21, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 151.000 Km (such as about 94.000 miles) from Hyperion and at a Sun-Hyperion-Spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111°.
Image scale is 906 meters (0,6 mile) per pixel".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA11617.jpgTumbling Hyperion (Natural Colors; credits: Lunexit)54 visiteCaption NASA:"The Cassini Spacecraft peers at the pitted Surface of the small and irregularly-shaped moon Hyperion.
See PIA09728 to learn how these pits are created on low-density Hyperion (about 270 Km, or approx. 168 miles across). To watch a movie of this "tumbling moon", see PIA07683.
Scale in the original image was 9 Km (approx. 5,5 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of three and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility.
The image was taken in Visible Light with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 5, 2009. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 1,4 MKM (such as about 870.000 miles) from Hyperion and at a Phase Angle of 91°".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA12748.jpgInteresting Optical Illusion on Hyperion (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga)103 visiteCaption NASA:"The Cassini Spacecraft captures a view of the Southern Latitudes of Saturn's "tumbling" moon Hyperion. Lit Terrain seen here is mostly in the Southern Hemisphere of Hyperion (approx. 270 Km or about 168 miles across). The South Pole of the moon is near the bottom of the illuminated Terrain seen here.
The image was taken in Visible Light with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 28, 2010. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 80.000 Km (about 50.000 miles) from Hyperion and at a Sun-Hyperion-Spacecraft, or Phase, Angle of 98°.
Image scale is roughly 476 meters (1562 feet) per pixel".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA14580-PCF-LXTT.jpgFeatures of Hyperion (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team) 213 visiteCaption NASA:"The sponge-like Surface of Saturn's moon Hyperion is highlighted in this Cassini portrait, captured during the Spacecraft's Sept. 16, 2011, Fly-By. Hyperion (which is about 168 miles, or approx. 270 Km across) has an irregular shape, and it tumbles through its orbit: that is, it does not spin at a constant rate or in a constant orientation. (A standard reference latitude-longitude system has not yet been devised for this moon.)
Images such as this one extend previous coverage and allow a better inventory of the surface features, the satellite's shape and changes in its spin.
The image was taken in Visible Blue Light with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 55.000 miles (such as about 88.000 Km) from Hyperion and at a Sun-Hyperion-Spacecraft, or Phase, Angle of 37°.
Image scale is roughly 1720 feet (524 meters) per pixel".MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA14583-PCF-LXTT.jpgHyperion (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)210 visiteCaption NASA:The Cassini Spacecraft looks at Saturn's highly irregular moon Hyperion in this view taken from the Spacecraft's during the Fly-By that occurred on August, 25th, 2011. Hyperion (approx. 168 miles, or about 270 Km across) has an irregular shape, and it tumbles through its orbit: that is, it does not spin at a constant rate or in a constant orientation. (A standard reference latitude-longitude system has not yet been devised for this moon)
Images such as this one extend previous coverage and allow a better inventory of the Surface Features, the satellite's shape and changes in its spin.
The image was taken with the Cassini Spacecraft narrow-angle camera using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of Polarized Green Light centered at 617 and 568 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 36.000 miles (such as about 58.000 Km) from Hyperion and at a Phase Angle of 43° degrees. Image scale is 1145 feet (349 meters) per pixel".
MareKromium
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Hyperion-PIA17193-PCF-LXTT-IPF.jpgFarewell Hyperion! Part I (Absolute Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga/Lunar Explorer Italia/Italian Planetary Foundation)91 visiteThe NASA - Cassini Spacecraft's Imaging Scientists processed this view of Saturn's so-called "spongy" moon Hyperion, which was taken during a close Fly-By that occurred on May 31, 2015. This Fly-By marks the Mission's Final Close Approach to this Saturnian highly irregularly shaped moon. North on Hyperion is up and rotated 37° to the right (Dx).
The image was taken with the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft's Narrow-Angle Camera - as we wrote herebefore - on May 31, 2015, by using a Spectral Filter which preferentially admits Wavelengths of Near-InfraRed Light, centered at 862 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approx. 37.000 miles (such as about 59.545,58 Km) from Hyperion, and at a Sun-Hyperion-Cassini Spacecraft, or Phase, Angle of 20°. The Image Scale is roughly 1180 feet (such as approx. 359,664 meters) per pixel.
This frame (which is an Original NASA - CASSINI Spacecraft's b/w and NON Map-Projected image published on the NASA - Planetary Photojournal with the ID n. PIA 17193) has been additionally processed, contrast enhanced, magnified to help the visibility of the Surface details, Gamma corrected and then re-colorized - according to an educated guess (or, if you wish, an informed speculation) carried out by Dr Paolo C. Fienga - in Absolute Natural Colors (such as the colors that a human eye would actually perceive if someone were onboard the NASA - Cassini Spacecraft and then looked outside, towards the Saturnian moon "Hyperion"), by using an original technique created - and, in time, dramatically improved - by the Lunar Explorer Italia Team. Different colors, as well as different shades of the same color, mean, among other things, the existence of different Elements (Minerals) present on the Surface of Hyperion, each having a different Albedo (---> Reflectivity) and Chemical Composition.
Note: it is possible (but we, as IPF, have no way to be one-hundred-percent sure of such a circumstance), that the actual luminosity of Hyperion - as it is in this frame - would appear, to an average human eye, a little bit lower than it has been shown (or, better yet: interpreted) here.MareKromium
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