February 1, 2005

Impact Central
This view of the trailing hemisphere of Saturn's moon Rhea shows the region's bright wispy markings, but also shows off the moon's craters in great detail. Of particular interest to imaging scientists is the distribution and orientation of the many craters with polygonal rims. These are craters with rough, angular shapes, rather than smooth, circular ones. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across. This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 16, 2005, at a distance of approximately 500,000 kilometers (311,000 miles) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 35 degrees. (PIA06578 is a true color version of this image.) Resolution in the original image was about 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel. The image has been rotated so that north on Rhea is up. Contrast was enhanced and the image was magnified by a factor of two to aid visibility.

---

me@rescam.org

Rock 'n' Roll is out of this world!

31 January 2005
"Music has always been at the centre of cultures all over the world and it will continue to play an important part in thousands of years time. Music has a role in the same way as technology and science in reflecting the age we live in and generally exploring new areas beyond the accepted boundaries and beyond Earth,” said Mick Jagger on the Music2Titan project.

Four songs ‘Lalala’, ‘Bald James Deans’, ‘Hot Time’ and ‘No Love’, composed by musicians Julien Civange and Louis Haéri, hitched a 4000 million kilometre ride aboard ESA’s Huygens, finally landing on Titan on 14 January. Rock legend Mick Jagger gave his support to this unique initiative.

“The music on board the spacecraft offers a very human touch to the project and at the same time provides an important educational aspect to the mission" said Jagger.


Full Story at ESA

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

January 31, 2005

Sun-striped Saturn
In a dazzling and dramatic portrait painted by the Sun, the long thin shadows of Saturn's rings sweep across the planet's northern latitudes. Within the shadows, bright bands represent areas where the ring material is less dense, while dark strips and wave patterns reveal areas of denser material. The shadow darkens sharply near upper right, corresponding to the boundary of the thin C ring with the denser B ring. A wide-field, natural color view of these shadows can be seen in (PIA06164). The globe of Saturn's moon Mimas (398 kilometers, or 247 miles across) has wandered into view near the bottom of the frame. A few of the large craters on this small moon are visible. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Jan. 18, 2005, at a distance of 1.4 million kilometers (889,000 miles) from Saturn using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The image scale is 9 kilometers (5.5 miles) per pixel.

---

me@rescam.org

January 28, 2005

Now, in southern summer, Saturn's shadow stretches across the sunlit southern surface of its rings. Saturn's moon Janus orbits just outside of the main rings and appears below them in this scene. Janus is absolutely dwarfed by the bulk of its gigantic parent. Janus is 181 kilometers (113 miles) across. Bands of ring material within the Cassini Division are visible here, near the outer edge of the bright B ring. The planet's night side is visible at the right. This view is from Cassini's vantage point beneath the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Jan. 17, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (746,000 miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 66 kilometers (41 miles) per pixel. Janus was brightened by a factor of two, and contrast in the scene was enhanced to aid visibility.
The Giant's Shadow - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

January 27, 2005

Mimas is caught in the spotlight beneath Saturn's rings in this amazing view from Cassini. Notable is the brightened outermost edge of the A ring beyond the narrow Keeler gap and the periodic brightening of the thin, knotted F ring. Mimas is 398 kilometers (247 miles) across. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 18, 2004, at a distance of 2 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Mimas and at a Sun-Mimas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 105 degrees. The image scale is about 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast enhanced to aid visibility.
Spotlight on Mimas - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

Scientists Still Pondering Origin of Titan's Methane

27 January 2005, 07:25 CST

Credit: NASA/JPL FRANKFURT, Germany (AP)
Saturn's largest moon contains all the ingredients for life, but senior scientists studying data from a European probe ruled out the possibility Titan's abundant methane stems from living organisms.

More than a week after the Huygens probe plunged through Titan's atmosphere, researchers continue to pore over data collected for clues to how the only celestial body known to have a significant atmosphere other than Earth came to be and whether it can provide clues to how life arose here.

Initial findings have revealed an abundance of methane on the surface of Titan - the first moon other than Earth's to be explored - which is crucial to supporting its thick atmosphere. But scientists are still puzzling over the origin of the methane.

The full story can be find here.

January 26, 2005

The eastern rim of the large crater Odysseus is visible along the terminator in this image of Saturn's moon Tethys. This enormous impact feature is the largest on Tethys, at approximately 450 kilometers (280 miles) across. The shadowy rim of another smaller crater can be seen at the bottom. Tethys is 1,060 kilometers (659 miles) across. This Cassini view shows principally the leading hemisphere of Tethys. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 18, 2004, at a distance of 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 94 degrees. The image scale is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast enhanced to aid visibility.
Dawn for Odysseus - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

Science fiction writing competition: From Earth to Planet X

25 January 2005
Now that the world has seen the first images of Saturn's moon Titan, here is a chance for young people to imagine voyages to other planets. EURISY, in cooperation with UNESCO and the Norwegian Centre for Space-related Education is holding a competition for young sci-fi writers.
...


Full Story at ESA

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

January 25, 2005

This is a highly detailed look at the feathery, wavelike patterns in the cloud bands of Saturn's southern hemisphere. Near the center, long filaments wrap around a swirling vortex. Notable is the extreme change in appearance at very high southern latitudes. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 595,000 kilometers (370,000 miles) from Saturn, through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 890 nanometers. It has been highly processed to enhance details. The image scale is about 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel.
Feathery Belts and Zones - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

Idaho prof's Saturn experiment — 18 years of work — may be saved

Idaho prof's Saturn experiment — 18 years of work — may be saved


Full Story

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

January 24, 2005

Cassini captured this revealing view, which shows that Saturn's hydrogen- and helium-rich atmosphere is a dynamic place, filled with spots, ovals and swirling vortices and filaments of gas. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 595,000 kilometers (370,000 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 939 nanometers. It has been highly processed to enhance details. The image scale is about 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel.
Spotting the Storms - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

> Are data send by Huyghens lost due to the forgotten channel?

According to the latest news, they are not.

January 22, 2005

The turbulent boundaries between dark belts and bright zones are seen prominently in this processed image of Saturn's southern atmosphere. Disturbed boundaries between these cloud bands are due to wind shear and density differences between adjacent bands. The planet has a blander appearance in natural color images, but this infrared view uncovers far more detail. The image was taken with the wide angle camera on December 14, 2004 from a distance of approximately 614,000 kilometers (382,000 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 890 nanometers. The image scale is 37 kilometers (23 miles) per pixel.
Swirls in the South - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

Are data send by Huyghens lost due to the forgotten channel?

Read the full story here.

UK scientists get a "whiff" of Titan's surface

21 January 2005

Further insights into Titan were unveiled today (21st January 2005) as scientists involved in the joint NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission presented further results and images a week to the day after the successful descent and arrival of the Huygens probe on the surface of Saturn's largest moon.

Principal Investigator for the Huygens Surface Science Package [SSP], Professor John Zarnecki from the Open University, Milton Keynes, has spent the last week with his team analysing and interpreting the data.

Speaking at a press briefing from ESA's Headquarters in Paris he said:
"The Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer has detected a 'whiff' of methane evaporating off the surface and the SSP data has also shown indications of gas flowing into its sensing area. These gaseous outbursts were released as heat generated by Huygens warmed the soil beneath the probe. This is a tantalising glimpse of the processes at work on Titan and shows how the weather systems operate with methane forming clouds and raining down on to the surface - producing the drainage channels, river beds and other features that we see in the images.

Read here the full story.

Seeing, touching and smelling the extraordinarily Earth-like world of Titan

21 January 2005
ESA PR 05-2005. On 14 January ESA's Huygens probe made an historic first ever descent to the surface of Titan, 1.2 billion kilometres from Earth and the largest of Saturn's moons. Huygens travelled to Titan as part of the joint ESA/NASA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission. Starting at about 150 kilometres altitude, six multi-function instruments on board Huygens recorded data during the descent and on the surface. The first scientific assessments of Huygens' data were presented during a press conference at ESA head office in Paris on 21 January.

"We now have the key to understanding what shapes Titan's landscape," said Dr Martin Tomasko, Principal Investigator for the Descent Imager-Spectral Radiometer (DISR), adding: "Geological evidence for precipitation, erosion, mechanical abrasion and other fluvial activity says that the physical processes shaping Titan are much the same as those shaping Earth."


Seeing, touching and smelling the extraordinarily Earth-like world of Titan
...

21 January 2005
These images from the Huygens DISR instrument show new features, such as evidence of flow around 'islands', deposits of water ice and channels which could have been created by methane springs.


Islands, rivers and methane springs - latest images of Titan

Greetings from Germany NRW
Ulli S@h Berkeley's Staff Friends Club m7 ©

January 20, 2005

Atmospheric features in Saturn's north polar region are revealed in spectacular detail in this Cassini image, taken in the near infrared spectral region, where methane gas is not very absorbing. The dark shadows of Saturn's rings drape across the planet, creating the illusion of atmospheric bands. Dots of bright clouds give the appearance that this is an active place. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 717,800 kilometers (446,100 miles) from Saturn through a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 939 nanometers. The image scale is about 43 kilometers (27 miles) per pixel.
Rings Around the Pole - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

January 19, 2005

Cassini's closest look yet at bright, icy Enceladus was captured in this view, centered on the moon's trailing hemisphere. It shows some of the linear features in the terrain of the Diyar Planitia region. Enceladus is 499 kilometers (310 miles) across. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Dec. 14, 2004, at a distance of 672,000 kilometers (417,600 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun- Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 32 degrees. The image scale is about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) per pixel. The image has been magnified by a factor of two and contrast enhanced to aid visibility.
Zooming In on Enceladus - (PIC)

---

me@rescam.org

January 18, 2005

Animation: Descent Through Clouds to Surface
This short animation is made up from a sequence of images taken by the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR) instrument on board ESA's Huygens probe, during its successful descent to Titan on Jan. 14, 2005. It shows what a passenger riding on Huygens would have seen. The sequence starts from an altitude of 152 kilometers (about 95 miles) and initially only shows a hazy view looking into thick cloud. As the probe descends, ground features can be discerned and Huygens emerges from the clouds at around 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) altitude. The ground features seem to rotate as Huygens spins slowly under its parachute. The DISR consists of a downward-looking High Resolution Imager (HRI), a Medium Resolution Imager (MRI), which looks out at an angle, and a Side Looking Imager (SLI). For this animation, most images used were captured by the HRI and MRI. Once on the ground, the final landing scene was captured by the SLI. The Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer is one of two NASA instruments on the probe.

---

me@rescam.org