November 15, 2004

Smog-enshrouded Titan shows itself to be a featureless orb in this Cassini image taken in visible light. There is no sign here of the streaky clouds seen near the moon's south pole in previous Cassini images of the opposite hemisphere. Although Titan's atmosphere blocks any view of its surface at visible wavelengths, Cassini is equipped with powerful cameras that can peer through the obscuring haze.
Smog Moon - (PIC)

November 16, 2004

This image shows the dark, leading hemisphere of the mysterious moon Iapetus. The dark area is the Cassini region, named for Giovanni Cassini, who discovered the moon in 1672. Cassini noted that he was able to see the moon on one side of its orbit around Saturn, but not on the other side. From this, he correctly deduced that one hemisphere must be dark while the other is much brighter. The image has been magnified by a factor of four to aid visibility.
Iapetus' Dark Side - (PIC)

November 17, 2004

Saturn hosts its own miniature solar system, with an entourage of more than 30 moons. This image shows Saturn's A and F rings, along with three of the moons that orbit close to them. The planet's shadow stretches all the way across the main rings in this view. The shadow has an oval shape at present, but over the next few years will become more rectangular as the planet orbits the Sun and the angle at which sunlight strikes the rings decreases.
Atlas, Pandora and Janus - (PIC)

November 18, 2004

This Cassini image shows details in the swirling clouds of Saturn's southern hemisphere. Although the contrast between light and dark is low, the clouds exhibit considerable structure. At larger scales the east-west banded flow pattern of the atmosphere dominates. At small scales turbulent eddies and waves predominate. Ring shadows and part of the sheer C ring can be seen at upper right.
Flowing Along - (PIC)

Cassini's Wild Ring Ride
This movie shows the Cassini spacecraft as it flew in and out of Saturn's ring plane, with accompanying sounds recorded by Cassini's radio and plasma wave science instrument. On June 30, 2004, the spacecraft crossed the ring plane, where its high-gain antenna was bombarded with dust particles that produced this cacophony of sound reminiscent of a hailstorm. Exciting the rings produces similar sights and sounds, which are seen at the end of the movie. The graph at the bottom of the movie corresponds to the sound waves, highlighting changes in intensity.

For those that would like to read all the JPL (Cassini-Huygens) news in Spanish and let their friends know about it, you can recommend to visit:

http://misiones.astroseti.org/cassini/

which is kept up to date in Spanish by a non-profit group of translators of our team Astroseti.

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Patience is a virtue.

November 19, 2004

Tiny Mimas is dwarfed by a huge white storm and dark waves on the edge of a cloud band in Saturn's atmosphere. Although the east-west winds on Saturn are stronger than on Earth or even Jupiter, the contrast in appearance between these zones is more muted, and the departures of the wind speeds from east to west are lower.
Dwarfed by Storms - (PIC)

Saturn's Rotation
Cassini took readings of the day-length indicator regarded as most reliable, the rhythm of natural radio signals from the planet. The results give 10 hours, 45 minutes, 45 seconds (plus or minus 36 seconds) as the length of time it takes Saturn to complete each rotation. Here's the puzzle: That is about 6 minutes, or one percent, longer than the radio rotational period measured by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft, which flew by Saturn in 1980 and 1981. Cassini scientists are not questioning Voyager's careful measurements. And they definitely do not think the whole planet of Saturn is actually rotating that much slower than it did two decades ago. Instead, they are looking for an explanation based on some variability in how the rotation deep inside Saturn drives the radio pulse. These sounds of radio emissions from Saturn have been compressed in time so that one second corresponds to one rotation of the planet.

November 22, 2004

Saturn's moon Rhea shows off the moon equivalent of a black eye -- a bright, rayed crater near its eastern limb. Rhea is about half the size of Earth's moon. It is the second-largest moon orbiting Saturn.
A Real Shiner - (PIC)

Last test of the Huyghens probe succesfull before the visit to Titan.

November 23, 2004

This dazzling view looks beyond gigantic storms near Saturn's south pole to the small but clear disc of Tethys. Clouds and ribbons of gas swirl about in the planet's atmosphere in the foreground, while a tremendous chasm is visible on the icy moon.
Breathtaking Vista - (PIC)

November 23, 2004

Having passed closer to Tethys than the Voyager 2 spacecraft, Cassini has returned the best-ever natural color view of this icy Saturnian moon. The image here is a mosaic of two footprints. Three images taken in the red, green and blue filters were taken to form a natural color composite. The result reveals a world nearly saturated with craters - many small craters lie on top of older, larger ones, suggesting an ancient surface. At the top and along the boundary between day and night, the moon's terrain has a grooved appearance. The view shows primarily the trailing hemisphere of Tethys, which is the side opposite the moon's direction of motion in its orbit. The image has been rotated so that north on Tethys is up.
Battered and Grooved - (PIC)

November 23, 2004

A mosaic of nine processed images recently acquired during Cassini's first very close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan constitutes the most detailed full-disc view of the mysterious moon. Brightness variations across the surface and bright clouds near the south pole are easily seen. The images that comprise the mosaic have been processed to reduce the effects of the atmosphere and to sharpen surface features. The mosaic has been trimmed to show only the illuminated surface and not the atmosphere above the edge of the moon. The Sun was behind Cassini, so nearly the full disc is illuminated. Surface features are best seen near the center of the disc, where the spacecraft is looking directly downwards; the contrast becomes progressively lower and surface features become fuzzier toward the outside, where the spacecraft is peering through haze, which washes out surface features.
Hovering Over Titan - (PIC)

November 24, 2004

This image reveals the odd shape of Saturn's moon Hyperion and an intriguing variation in brightness across its surface.
Oddball Moon - (PIC)

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November 25, 2004

A gorgeous Dione poses for Cassini, with shadowed craters and bright, wispy streaks first observed by the Voyager spacecraft 24 years ago. The wispy areas will be imaged at higher resolution in mid-December 2004. Subtle variations in brightness across the surface of this moon are visible here as well. The image shows primarily the trailing hemisphere of Dione, which is the side opposite the moon's direction of motion in its orbit. The image has been rotated so that north is up.
Crisscrossing Streaks - (PIC)

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[b]Huygens Seperation From Cassini

Huygens Landing On Titan

Huygens Flight Across Titan

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November 26, 2004

Saturn's massive atmosphere appears poised to crush little Enceladus in this image. Many fascinating details are visible in the gas planet's sinuous bands, such as a giant, eye-shaped storm that circles the south pole.
Ominous Giant - (PIC)

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November 29, 2004

This Cassini view of Enceladus hints at the curvilinear, groove-like features that crisscross the moon's surface, as seen in images from NASA's Voyager spacecraft. The image shows the trailing hemisphere of Enceladus, which is the side opposite the moon's direction of motion in its orbit.
Intriguing Enceladus - (PIC)

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November 29, 2004

In a splendid portrait created by light and gravity, Saturn's lonely moon Mimas is seen against the cool, blue-streaked backdrop of Saturn's northern hemisphere. Delicate shadows cast by the rings arc gracefully across the planet, fading into darkness on Saturn's night side. The part of the atmosphere seen here appears darker and more bluish than the warm brown and gold hues seen in Cassini images of the southern hemisphere, due to preferential scattering of blue wavelengths by the cloud-free upper atmosphere. Images taken with red, green and blue filters were combined to create this color view.
Nature's Canvas - (PIC)

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November 30, 2004

Cassini pierced the ring plane and rounded Saturn, capturing this view of the dark portion of the rings. A portion of the planet's atmosphere is visible here, as is its shadow on the surface of the rings.
Gazing Down - (PIC)

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