| Piú viste - Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons |
Mimas-N00037785.jpgMimas, from approx. 62.000 Km55 visitenessun commento
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Tethys-PIA07557_modest.jpgOdysseus: the Eye of Tethys55 visiteCaption NASA originale:"This richly textured look at Saturn's moon Tethys shows the huge crater Odysseus and its central mountain in relief, as well as many smaller impact sites. Vertical relief on solid Solar System bodies is often most easily visible near the terminator (the line between day and night).
North on Tethys is up in this view. The lit portion of Tethys seen here is on the moon's leading hemisphere as it orbits Saturn.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 27, 2005, at a distance of approximately 490.000 Km (approx 304.000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 117°. The image scale is 3 Km (about 2 miles) per pixel".
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Mimas-PIA06257.jpgMimas: surface geology through "false colors"55 visiteThe image at the left is a narrow angle clear-filter image, which was separately processed to enhance the contrast in brightness and sharpness of visible features. The image at the right is a color composite of narrow-angle ultraviolet, green, infrared and clear filter images, which have been specially processed to accentuate subtle changes in the spectral properties of Mimas' surface materials. To create this view, 3 color images (ultraviolet, green and infrared) were combined into a single black and white picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superimposed over the clear-filter image at the left.
The combination of color map and brightness image shows how the color differences across the Mimas surface materials are tied to geological features.
Shades of blue and violet in the image at the right are used to identify surface materials that are bluer in color and have a weaker infrared brightness than the average Mimas materials (green).
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Saturn-PIA07560.jpgSaturn and Tethys55 visiteOriginal caption:"Saturn poses with Tethys in this Cassini view. The C ring casts thin, string-like shadows on the Northern Hemisphere. Above that lurks the shadow of the much denser B-Ring. Cloud bands in the atmosphere are subtly visible in the south. Tethys is 1071 Km (about 665 miles) across.
Cassini will perform a close flyby of Tethys on Sept. 24, 2005. This image was taken on June 10, 2005, in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of approx. 1,4 MKM (such as about 900.000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 81 Km (about 50 miles) per pixel".
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Mimas Map-PIA06255.jpgMimas' Map55 visiteOriginal caption:"This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Mimas illustrates the Regions that were imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's flyby of the moon on Aug. 2, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft passed within approx. 62.900 Km above the Moon's surface. The colored lines delineate the Regions that were imaged at differing resolutions. The closest images were obtained near closest approach. Mimas has never been imaged this closely before. The flyby provided the best views yet of the South Pole of Mimas and some of its northern latitudes, as well as distant views of the giant crater Herschel, near the terminator.
The highest resolution images show the trailing hemisphere of Mimas, opposite Herschel. Several fracture systems have been seen in the region in NASA Voyager images, like Pelion Chasma and Tintagil Chasma. Images obtained from this Cassini encounter may help test whether these canyons and others on Mimas' surface, are related to the formation of Herschel (...)".
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Pandora-PIA07570.jpgPandora, from 1,3 MKM55 visiteWhile close to Saturn in its orbit, Cassini stared directly at the Planet to find Saturn's moon Pandora in the field of view. The F-Ring shepherd moon is gliding towards the right in this scene. The F-Ring is thinly visible just above the main rings. Pandora is 84 Km (about 52 miles) across.
Near the lower left, some variation in the height of Saturn's cloud tops can be detected. This effect is often visible near the terminator (such as the day and night boundary), where the Sun is at a very low angle above Saturn's horizon.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 16, 2005, at a distance of approx. 1,3 MKM (about 800.000 miles) from Saturn.
The image scale is about 8 Km (about 5 miles) per pixel on Saturn and about 6 Km (about 4 miles) per pixel on Pandora.
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Mimas-PIA07573.jpgMimas in the shadows of the B-Ring55 visiteAs the closest-orbiting of Saturn's intermediate-sized moons, Mimas is occasionally captured against the planet's dim and shadowed northern latitudes. The Moon is seen here next to the shadows cast by the dense B-Ring. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 18, 2005, at a distance of approx. 1,6 MKM (such as about 1 MMs) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 90°. Image scale is 10 Km (about 6 miles) per pixel.
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Enceladus-GroundTrack-PIA07723_modest.jpgEnceladus: the "Ground-Track"55 visiteThis graphic shows Cassini's path, or Ground Track, as it crossed over the surface of Enceladus near the time of closest approach during the flyby on July 14, 2005. The Ground Track is indicated by a yellow line, marked by increments of 10" before and after closest approach. The spacecraft came within 175 Km from the surface of Enceladus at closest approach.
The red contour encloses the Region on Enceladus around the South Pole that is the approx. boundary of the warm region, as measured by the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIS) on Cassini. As previously announced, temperatures observed within this region reached as high as 110 Kelvin (about -260 Fahrenheit). (...) Results like these, pouring in from various Cassini instruments, indicate the warm South Polar Region and, in particular, the 'tiger stripe' fractures straddling the South Pole, as the sources of heat, water vapor and small, icy particles.
Enceladus is a surprisingly active moon. Why its South Pole is the site of this activity is a mystery.
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Saturn-PIA07731-3.jpgSpokes (3)55 visiteImaging team members will be studying the new Spoke images and will maintain their vigil for additional Spoke sightings.
These images were taken using the clear filters on Cassini's Wide-Angle Camera on Sept. 5, 2005, at a mean distance of 318.000 Km (198.000 miles) from Saturn. The radial scale on the Rings (the image scale at the center of each image) is about 17 Km (about 11 miles) per pixel.
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Japetus.jpgThe "Great - and anomalous - Walls" of Japetus55 visiteUn nuovo lavoro del Dr Feltri sulle raw images di Cassini. Ma sentiamo che cosa Lui stesso racconta:"...fermo restando che i Thunderbolts hanno indovinato parte della Verità, le cose sono alquanto più complicate di quanto pensano. Dal punto di vista 'architettonico' è interessante il "muro" sinaptico verticale semicircolare che divide il cratere più grande da quello intermedio. Come già visto in Endurance, la parete verticale si è leggermente distaccata dalla superficie orizzontale superiore, il che costituisce un indizio consistente sulla formazione indipendente delle 2 superfici perpendicolari (e addio alla teoria dei Crateri da Impatto...) le quali si sono prima connesse e poi distaccate (un po' come piastrelle posizionate su un gradino). Tale circostanza porta ad una coesistenza di matrici biogeniche e forze elettromagnetiche, non essendo a mio parere plausibile una spiegazione che tenti di attribuire queste formazioni ad una sola Teoria Esplicativa...".
...continua nella Reserved Area
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Atlas-PIA07592.jpgAtlas, from 489.000 Km55 visiteOriginal caption:"The 'flying saucer' in this image is the small moon Atlas (20 Km or about 12 miles across), whose shadowy profile reveals its flattened shape. This image looks down onto the outer A-Ring and through the Encke and Keeler Gaps.
Two distinct, thin strands in the F-Ring are visible here, silhouetted against the Planet. Saturn's extended, high-altitude haze is seen near lower right.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 2, 2005, at a distance of approx. 489.000 Km (such as about 304.000 miles) from Atlas and at a Sun-Atlas-spacecraft angle of 138°. The image scale is 3 Km (about 2 miles) per pixel".
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Tethys-N00040067.jpgTethys Fly-By (5)55 visiteUn'immagine molto suggestiva del bordo di Tethys con la suggestione e la profondità conferite al paesaggio dall'incedere delle ombre le quali, come ben sapete, agiscono come "evidenziatori naturali" dei rilievi.
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