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Voyager Tour Montage
Title Voyager Tour Montage
Full Description This montage of images of the planets visited by Voyager 2 was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Date 08/01/1989
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter System Montage
Title Jupiter System Montage
Full Description Jupiter and its four planet-size moons, called the Galilean satellites, were photographed in early March 1979 by Voyager 1 and assembled into this collage. They are not to scale but are in their relative positions. Startling new discoveries on the Galilean moons and the planet Jupiter made by Voyager l factored into a new mission design for Voyager 2. Reddish Io (upper left) is nearest Jupiter, then Europa (center), Ganymede and Callisto (lower right). Nine other much smaller satellites circle Jupiter, one inside Io's orbit and the other millions of miles from the planet. Not visible is Jupiter's faint ring of particles, seen for the first time by Voyager 1. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
Date 06/22/1979
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jupiter and the Galilean Sat …
title Jupiter and the Galilean Satellites
description Jupiter and its four planet-size moons, called the Galilean satellites, were photographed in early March by Voyager 1 and assembled into this collage. They are not to scale but are in their relative positions. Startling new discoveries on the Galilean moons and the planet Jupiter made by Voyager 1 have been factored into a new mission design for Voyager 2. Voyager 2 will fly past Jupiter on July 9. Reddish Io (upper left) is nearest Jupiter, then Europa (center), Ganymede and Callisto (lower right). Nine other much smaller satellites circle Jupiter, one inside Io's orbit and the other millions of miles from the planet. Not visible is Jupiter's faint ring of particles, seen for the first time by Voyager 1. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. *Image Credit*: NASA
Voyager Tour Montage
PIA01483
Sol (our sun)
Title Voyager Tour Montage
Original Caption Released with Image This montage of images of the planets visited by Voyager 2was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the 2 Voyager spacecraft. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Jupiter System Montage
PIA01481
Sol (our sun)
Title Jupiter System Montage
Original Caption Released with Image Jupiter and its four planet-size moons, called the Galilean satellites, were photographed in early March by Voyager 1 and assembled into this collage. They are not to scale but are in their relative positions. Startling new discoveries on the Galilean moons and the planet Jupiter made by Voyager 1 have been factored into a new mission design for Voyager 2. Voyager 2 will fly past Jupiter on July 9. Reddish Io (upper left) is nearest Jupiter, then Europa (center), Ganymede and Callisto (lower right). Nine other much smaller satellites circle Jupiter, one inside Io's orbit and the other millions of miles from the planet. Not visible is Jupiter's faint ring of particles, seen for the first time by Voyager 1. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.
Changes around Marduk betwee …
PIA01066
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Changes around Marduk between Voyager, and Galileo's first two orbits
Original Caption Released with Image Detail of changes around Marduk on Jupiter's moon Io as seen by Voyager 1 in 1979 (upper left) and NASA's Galileo spacecraft between June 1996 (lower left) and September 1996 (upper and lower right). The new dark red linear feature extending southeast from Marduk is about 250 kilometers long and may be a volcanic fissure. The flow-like feature at the bottom of the images is distinct in the Voyager data, indistinct in the June Galileo data, but distinct again in the September Galileo data. This may be due to the different lighting conditions rather than volcanic activity. The Voyager 1 image uses the green, blue, and violet filters. The upper right September 1996 image from Galileo uses the violet and green filters of the solid state imaging system aboard the Galileo spacecraft and a synthetic blue to simulate Voyager colors. The lower June and September, 1996 Galileo images use the imaging system's near-infrared (756 nm), green, and violet filters. North is to the top in all frames. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo
Voyager Spacecraft During Vi …
Title Voyager Spacecraft During Vibration Testing
Full Description Two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 to explore the outer planets and some of their satellites. A prototype Voyager spacecraft is shown at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, as it successfully passed vibration tests which simulated the expected launch environment. The large parabolic antenna at the top is 3.7 meters in diameter and was used at both S-band and X-band radio frequencies for communicating with Earth over the great distances from the outer planets. The spacecraft received electrical power from three nuclear power sources (lower left). The shiny cylinder on the left side under the antenna contained a folded boom, which extended after launch to hold a magnetometer instrument thirteen meters away from the body of the spacecraft. The truss-like structure on the right side is the stowed instrument boom which supported three science instruments and a scan platform. The scan platform allowed the accurate pointing of two cameras and three other science instruments at Jupiter, Saturn, the rings of Saturn, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's moons, Uranus, moons of Uranus, and Neptune.
Date 03/25/1977
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Saturn's Ring Shadow, Then a …
Description Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description The image on the left was taken on Nov. 1, 1980, by NASA's Voyager spacecraft from a distance of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles). It shows a very strong narrow shadow cast on the equatorial region of Saturn's atmosphere by the rings. During the Voyager encounters, the Sun was close to the plane of the rings so that the ring shadow was very deep and localized to low latitudes. Radio signals detected by Voyager were interpreted as lightning coming from a persistent, extended storm system at low latitudes. It is possible that the ring shadow was partly responsible for generating this storm by promoting strong convection at the boundary of the colder shadowed atmosphere and the adjoining sunlit atmosphere. This image was previously released on June 19, 1999. For original caption see PIA00335. The image on the right was acquired by the Cassini spacecraft on May 10, 2004, from a distance of 27.2 million kilometers (16.9 million miles) and shows the complex set of ring shadows cast over a large region of Saturn's northern hemisphere. This shadow pattern is due to the Sun being well below the ring plane during Cassini's approach to Saturn. This image was previously release on May 25, 2004. For original caption see PIA05394. Unlike the situation when NASA's Voyager spacecraft flew by Saturn, these ring shadows are not as deep and are not localized at a very narrow range of latitudes. Should these shadows drive convection in Saturn's atmosphere, the location would likely be very much different than the near-equatorial shadow observed by the Voyagers in the early 1980s. It is possible that this very different ring shadow geometry is one reason for different morphologies of thunderstorms observed by Cassini and Voyager. Voyager observed lightning apparently from one persistent, low-latitude storm system, whereas Cassini observes lightning from storms which seem to come and go on time scales of a day or so, and perhaps from more than one storm system at a time. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radio and plasma wave science team is based at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/plasma-wave/cassini/home.html . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Iowa
Saturn Storms Observed by Vo …
Description Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description Voyager 1 and 2 observed radio signals from lightning which were interpreted as being from a persistent, low-latitude storm system which was extended in longitude, perhaps similar to the region highlighted on this Voyager 2 image acquired on Aug. 4, 1981, from a distance of 21 million kilometers (13 million miles). Similar lightning detections by Cassini suggest a much more variable pattern of storms which come and go on time scales of days. The differences may be explained, in part, by stark differences in the shadows cast by the rings between the Voyager and Cassini eras. This image was previously released on December 5, 1998. For original caption see PIA01364. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radio and plasma wave science team is based at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the instrument team's home page, http://www-pw.physics.uiowa.edu/plasma-wave/cassini/home.html . Image Credit: NASA/JPL
Saturn System Montage
Title Saturn System Montage
Full Description This montage of images of the Saturnian system was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980. This artist's view shows Dione in the forefront, Saturn rising behind, Tethys and Mimas fading in the distance to the right, Enceladus and Rhea off Saturn's rings to the left, and Titan in its distant orbit at the top. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Date 11/17/1980
NASA Center Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Saturn System Montage
PIA01482
Sol (our sun)
Title Saturn System Montage
Original Caption Released with Image This montage of images of the Saturnian system was prepared from an assemblage of images taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980. This artist's view shows Dione in the forefront, Saturn rising behind, Tethys and Mimas fading in the distance to the right, Enceladus and Rhea off Saturn's rings to the left, and Titan in its distant orbit at the top. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Saturn and its rings
PIA01969
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Saturn and its rings
Original Caption Released with Image Voyager 1 looked back at Saturn on Nov. 16, 1980, four days after the spacecraft flew past the planet, to observe the appearance of Saturn and its rings from this unique perspective. A few of the spokelike ring features discovered by Voyager appear in the rings as bright patches in this image, taken at a distance of 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 million miles) from the planet. Saturn's shadow falls upon the rings, and the bright Saturn crescent is seen through all but the densest portion of the rings. From Saturn, Voyager 1 is on a trajectory taking the spacecraft out of the ecliptic plane, away from the Sun and eventually out of the solar system (by about 1990). Although its mission to Jupiter and Saturn is nearly over (the Saturn encounter ends Dec. 18, 1980), Voyager 1 will be tracked by the Deep Space Network as far as possible in an effort to determine where the influence of the Sun ends and interstellar space begins. Voyager 1's flight path through interstellar space is in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. Voyager 2 will reach Saturn on August 25, 1981, and is targeted to encounter Uranus in 1986 and possibly Neptune in 1989. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
Clumps in the F Ring
Description Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description Scientists have only a rough idea of the lifetime of clumps in Saturn's rings - a mystery that Cassini may help answer. The latest images taken by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft show clumps seemingly embedded within Saturn¿s narrow, outermost F ring. The narrow angle camera took the images on Feb. 23, 2004, from a distance of 62.9 million kilometers (39 million miles). The two images taken nearly two hours apart show these clumps as they revolve about the planet. The small dot at center right in the second image is one of Saturn's small moons, Janus, which is 181 kilometers, (112 miles) across. Like all particles in Saturn's ring system, these clump features orbit the planet in the same direction in which the planet rotates. This direction is clockwise as seen from Cassini's southern vantage point below the ring plane. Two clumps in particular, one of them extended, is visible in the upper part of the F ring in the image on the left, and in the lower part of the ring in the image on the right. Other knot-like irregularities in the ring's brightness are visible in the image on the right. The core of the F ring is about 50 kilometers (31miles) wide, and from Cassini's current distance, is not fully visible. The imaging team enhanced the contrast of the images and magnified them to aid visibility of the F ring and the clump features. The camera took the images with the green filter, which is centered at 568 nanometers. The image scale is 377 kilometers (234 miles) per pixel. NASA¿s two Voyager spacecraft that flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981 were the first to see these clumps. The Voyager data suggest that the clumps change very little and can be tracked as they orbit for 30 days or more. No clump survived from the time of the first Voyager flyby to the Voyager 2 flyby nine months later. Scientists are not certain of the cause of these features. Among the theories proposed are meteoroid bombardments and inter-particle collisions in the F ring. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Voyager aircraft return from …
Title Voyager aircraft return from non-stop trip around the world
Description The Voyager aircraft circles before landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Edwards, California, to complete it's record breaking, nonstop unfueled flight around the world. The Voyager landed at Edwards at 8:06 a.m. PST Dec. 23, 1986, after a nine-day flight. Richard Rutan and Jeana Yeager piloted the aircraft from a cramped cockpit. Voyager's takeoff weight was more than 10 times the structural weight, but its drag was lower than almost any other powered aircraft. The aircraft's design and light-weight structural materials allowed it to carry an unprecedented amount of fuel on its 25,000 mile flight. Voyager took off from Edwards Dec. 14, and traveled at an average speed of 115.8 mph. The 9 day, 3 minute, 44 sec. flight nearly doubled the previous distance record set in 1962 by a USAF/Boeing B-52H.
Date 12.23.1986
Iapetus' New Year's Flyby
Description Iapetus' New Year's Flyby
Full Description This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Iapetus (1,436 kilometers, or 892 miles across), generated from images taken by NASA's Voyager spacecraft, illustrates the imaging coverage planned during Cassini's flyby on Dec. 31, 2004. Cassini will glide past Iapetus at a distance of approximately 123,400 kilometers (76,700 miles) on New Year's Eve, at a speed of about 2 kilometers per second (4,474 miles per hour). Imaging coverage will be focused primarily on the dark terrain of Iapetus' leading hemisphere, in the area known as Cassini Regio. The spacecraft's namesake, Jean-Dominique Cassini, discovered Iapetus in 1672 and was only able to see the moon's bright trailing hemisphere. Colored lines on the map enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging scales as Cassini approaches Iapetus. Images from Cassini's flyby will be superior in resolution to those obtained by Voyager 2 in August 1981. Voyager 2 passed Iapetus at a distance of approximately 909,000 kilometers (564,800 miles) at closest approach, yielding a best resolution image of about 8 kilometers per pixel. The resolution of Cassini images from this flyby will be 1.5 kilometers per pixel and better. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org . *Credit*: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 30, 2004
The 'Voyager' Mountains
Description The 'Voyager' Mountains
Full Description Cassini zooms in, for the first time, on the patchy, bright and dark mountains originally identified in images from the NASA Voyager spacecraft taken more than 25 years earlier. The image was acquired during Cassini's only close flyby of Iapetus, a two-toned moon of Saturn. The terrain seen here is located on the equator of Iapetus at approximately 199 degrees west longitude, in the transition region between the moon's bright and dark hemispheres. North is up. The image was taken on Sept. 10, 2007, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 9,240 kilometers (5,740 miles) from Iapetus. Image scale is 55 meters (180 feet) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date September 12, 2007
D Ring Revelations
Description D Ring Revelations
Full Description This montage of images from the NASA Cassini and Voyager missions shows that structural evolution has occurred in Saturn's D ring (the innermost ring) during the quarter century separating the two missions. The inset image reveals structure with an unprecedented level of fine detail. The lower panel was taken in 1980 by Voyager 1 from a distance of about 250,000 kilometers (155,000 miles). The bright material at the lower left is the inner edge of the C-ring. Interior to this feature, we see three discrete ringlets. From right to left, these are called D73, D72 and D68, respectively. The upper panel, obtained by Cassini from a distance of 272,000 kilometers (169,000 miles) on May 3, 2005, shows the same region from a similar viewing geometry. The green line marks the edge of the C-ring, which was not overexposed like the Voyager image. Image scale in this Cassini view is about 13 kilometers (8 miles). There have been some very significant changes in the appearance of the D ring since observed by Voyager. The most dramatic changes involve D72, which was the brightest feature in the D-ring 25 years ago. Since then, D72 has decreased in brightness by more than an order of magnitude relative to the other ringlets. It also has moved inward about 200 kilometers (125 miles) relative to the other features in the D ring. Cassini has also observed the D-ring at much higher resolution than was possible for Voyager, revealing surprising fine-scale structures. The inset narrow-angle camera image (upper right) was taken on May 21, 2005, in a very different geometry from the larger scale Cassini panel to its left. This close-up shows the region between D73 and the C-ring at 2 kilometer (1 mile) per pixel resolution. This region contains a periodic wave-like structure with a wavelength of 30 kilometers (19 miles). The faint vertical bands in the image are instrumental artifacts. As for the significance of these findings, the time-variability of the rings over only decades can provide information about how the rings are maintained and confined, and how long they last. The fine structure in the D-ring (visible in the inset) could be related to perturbations from the planet or its magnetic field. The Cassini results provide information about the dynamics of ring particles in a new regime -- one very close to the planet and sparsely populated by icy particles the size of dust. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging, team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date September 5, 2005
Saturn With Rhea and Dione ( …
PIA01143
Sol (our sun)
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Saturn With Rhea and Dione (false color)
Original Caption Released with Image NASA's Voyager 2 took this 'false color' photograph of Saturn on July 21, 1981, when the spacecraft was 33.9 million kilometers (21 million miles) from the planet. Two bright, presumably convective cloud patterns are visible in the mid-northern hemisphere and several dark spoke-like features can be seen in the broad B-ring (left of planet). The moons Rhea and Dione appear as blue dots to the south and southeast of Saturn, respectively. Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn on Aug. 25, 1981. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Enceladus First Flyby
Description Enceladus First Flyby
Full Description This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus illustrates the regions that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's first very close flyby of the moon on Feb. 17, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft is expected to pass approximately 1,180 kilometers (733 miles) above the moon's surface. Enceladus is 505 kilometers (314 miles) across. The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing resolutions. The coverage at spatial resolution better than 200 meters (656 feet) per pixel primarily targets an area previously seen in NASA's Voyager spacecraft images, but at lower resolution (around 1 kilometer or 0.6 miles per pixel). This high resolution coverage also includes areas in the southern latitudes that were not seen at all by Voyager. The primary purpose of this coverage is to provide detailed information about the nature of different terrain types, especially the smooth plains materials, cratered terrains and system of curvilinear fractures that appear to be tectonic in nature. The highest-resolution coverage (i.e. better than 70 meters, or 230 feet per pixel) focuses on the detailed structure of prominent fractures in the smooth plains. Coverage outlined in purple (i.e., resolution better than 1.5 kilometers or 0.9 miles per pixel) includes an area of Enceladus that was seen by Voyager only at very poor spatial resolution (about 6 kilometers or 3.7 miles per pixel). Cassini's resolution will be approximately four times better in this region. The map was made from images obtained by both the Cassini and Voyager spacecraft. The Cassini images used here were acquired on Jan. 15 and 16, 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date February 14, 2005
Finally . . . Spokes!
Description Finally . . . Spokes!
Full Description After much anticipation, Cassini has finally spotted the elusive spokes in Saturn's rings. Spokes are the ghostly radial markings discovered in the rings by NASA's Voyager spacecraft 25 years ago. Since that time, spokes had been seen in images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope but had not, until now, been seen by Cassini. These three images, taken over a span of 27 minutes, show a few faint, narrow spokes in the outer B ring. The spokes are about 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) long and about 100 kilometers-wide (60 miles). The motion of the spokes here is from left to right. They are seen just prior to disappearing into the planet's shadow on the rings. At the bottom left corner of the left and center images, the bright inner edge of the A ring is visible. Continuing radially inward (or toward Saturn) are several bands that lie within the Cassini Division, bounded by the bright outer edge of the B ring. The rounded shadow of Saturn cuts across the rings in the image at right. Cassini's first sighting of spokes occurs on the unilluminated side of the rings, in the same region in which they were seen during the Voyager flybys. Although the most familiar Voyager images of spokes showed them on the sunlit side of the rings, spokes also were seen on the unilluminated side. In Voyager images, when spokes were seen at low phase angles, they appeared dark, when seen at high phase angles, they appeared bright. The spokes seen here are viewed by Cassini at a very high phase angle, which is about 145 degrees at the center of each image. Imaging 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 kilometers (198,000 miles) from Saturn. The radial scale on the rings (the image scale at the center of each image) is about 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date September 16, 2005
Finally... Spokes!
title Finally... Spokes!
date 09.05.2005
description After much anticipation, Cassini has finally spotted the elusive spokes in Saturn's rings. Spokes are the ghostly radial markings discovered in the rings by NASA's Voyager spacecraft 25 years ago. Since that time, spokes had been seen in images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope but had not, until now, been seen by Cassini. These three images, taken over a span of 27 minutes, show a few faint, narrow spokes in the outer B ring. The spokes are about 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles) long and about 100 kilometers-wide (60 miles). The motion of the spokes here is from left to right. They are seen just prior to disappearing into the planet's shadow on the rings. At the bottom left corner of the left and center images, the bright inner edge of the A ring is visible. Continuing radially inward (or toward Saturn) are several bands that lie within the Cassini Division, bounded by the bright outer edge of the B ring. The rounded shadow of Saturn cuts across the rings in the image at right. Cassini's first sighting of spokes occurs on the unilluminated side of the rings, in the same region in which they were seen during the Voyager flybys. Although the most familiar Voyager images of spokes showed them on the sunlit side of the rings, spokes also were seen on the unilluminated side. In Voyager images, when spokes were seen at low phase angles, they appeared dark, when seen at high phase angles, they appeared bright. The spokes seen here are viewed by Cassini at a very high phase angle, which is about 145 degrees at the center of each image. Imaging 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 kilometers (198,000 miles) from Saturn. The radial scale on the rings (the image scale at the center of each image) is about 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Map of Enceladus - December …
Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Enceladus was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys.
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Enceladus was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 110 meters (361 feet) per pixel. The mean radius of Enceladus used for projection of this map is 252 kilometers (157 miles). The resolution of the map is 40 pixels per degree. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 22, 2005
Map of Rhea - December 2005
Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Rhea was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys.
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Rhea was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 667 meters (2,188 feet) per pixel. The mean radius of Rhea used for projection of this map is 764 kilometers (475 miles). The resolution of the map is 20 pixels per degree. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 22, 2005
Map of Iapetus - December 20 …
Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Iapetus was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys.
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Iapetus was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 641 meters (2,103 feet) per pixel. Some territory seen in this map was imaged by Cassini using reflected light from Saturn. The mean radius of Iapetus used for projection of this map is 735 kilometers (457 miles). The resolution of the map is 20 pixels per degree. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 22, 2005
Map of Dione - December 2005
Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Dione was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys.
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Dione was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 977 meters (3,205 feet) per pixel. The mean radius of Dione used for projection of this map is 560 kilometers (348 miles). The resolution of the map is 10 pixels per degree. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 22, 2005
Map of Mimas - December 2005
Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Mimas was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys.
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Mimas was created using data taken during Cassini and Voyager spacecraft flybys. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 434 meters (1,424 feet) per pixel. The mean radius of Mimas used for projection of this map is 199 kilometers (124 miles). The resolution of the map is 8 pixels per degree. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 22, 2005
Watching Saturn's Winds
Description Subtle features in Saturn's equatorial region and the nearly edge-on rings are captured in this view.
Full Description Subtle features in Saturn's equatorial region and the nearly edge-on rings are captured in this view. Images like this will be carefully studied to see if changes in wind speed recorded in Hubble Space Telescope images are continuing, or whether the winds have reverted to their high-speed configuration measured by Voyager in 1981. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 6, 2005 using a filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 727 nanometers and at a distance of approximately 3 million kilometers (1.9 million miles) from Saturn. The image scale is 35 kilometers (22 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date January 9, 2006
Lack of visible change aroun …
PIA01065
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Lack of visible change around active hotspots on Io
Original Caption Released with Image Detail of changes around two hotspots on Jupiter's moon Io as seen by Voyager 1 in April 1979 (left) and NASA's Galileo spacecraft on September 7th, 1996 (middle and right). The right frame was created with images from the Galileo Solid State Imaging system's near-infrared (756 nm), green, and violet filters. For better comparison, the middle frame mimics Voyager colors. The calderas at the top and at the lower right of the images correspond to the locations of hotspots detected by the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer aboard the Galileo spacecraft during its second orbit. There are no significant morphologic changes around these hot calderas, however, the diffuse red deposits, which are simply dark in the Voyager colors, appear to be associated with recent and/or ongoing volcanic activity. The three calderas range in size from approximately 100 kilometers to approximately 150 kilometers in diameter. The caldera in the lower right of each frame is named Malik. North is to the top of all frames. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo
Galileo and Cassini Image: T …
Two Giant Plumes on Io ,Two …
3/29/01
Date 3/29/01
Description Two Giant Plumes on Io ,Two tall volcanic plumes and the rings of red material they have deposited onto surrounding surface areas appear in images taken of Jupiter's moon Io by NASA's Galileo and Cassini spacecraft in late December 2000 and early January 2001. One plume, from the volcano Pele, shoots upward nearly 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the surface near Io's equator. The plume has been active for at least four years and, until now, had been far larger than any other plume seen on Io. The images also show a second plume about the same size, closer to Io's north pole. This plume had never been seen before. It is associated with a fresh eruption from the Tvashtar Catena volcanic area. The observations were made during joint studies of the Jupiter system while Cassini was passing Jupiter on its way to Saturn. Galileo passed closer to Io for higher-resolution images, and Cassini acquired images at ultraviolet wavelengths, better for detecting active volcanic plumes. The Cassini ultraviolet images, upper right, reveal two gigantic, actively erupting plumes of gas and dust. Near the equator, just the top of Pele's plume is visible where it projects into sunlight. None of it would be illuminated if it were less than 240 kilometers (150 miles) high. These images indicate a total height for Pele of 390 kilometers (242 miles). The Cassini image at far right shows a bright spot over Pele's vent. Although the Pele hot spot has a high temperature, silicate lava cannot be hot enough to explain a bright spot in the ultraviolet, so the origin of this bright spot is a mystery, but it may indicate that Pele was unusually active when the picture was taken. Also visible is a plume near Io's north pole. Although 15 active plumes over Io's equatorial regions have been detected in hundreds of images from NASA's Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, this is the first image ever acquired of an active plume over a polar region of Io. The plume projects about 150 kilometers (about 90 miles) over the limb, the edge of the globe. If it were erupting from a point on the limb, it would be only slightly larger than a typical Ionian plume, but the image does not reveal whether the source is actually at the limb or beyond it, out of view. A distinctive feature in Galileo images since 1997 has been a giant red ring of Pele plume deposits about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) in diameter. The Pele ring is seen again in one of the new Galileo images, lower left. When the new Galileo images were returned this month, scientists were astonished to see a second giant red ring on Io, centered around Tvashtar Catena at 63 degrees north latitude. (To see a comparison from before the ring was deposited, see images PIA-01604 or PIA-02309.) Tvashtar was the site of an active curtain of high-temperature silicate lava imaged by Galileo in November 1999 and February 2000 (image PIA- 02584). The new ring shows that Tvashtar must be the vent for the north polar plume imaged by Cassini from the other side of Io. This means the plume is actually about 385 kilometers (239 miles) high, just like Pele. The uncertainty in estimating the height is about 30 kilometers (19 miles), so the plume could be anywhere from 355 to 415 kilometers (221 to 259 miles) high. If this new plume deposit is just one millimeter (four one- hundredths of an inch) thick, then the eruption produced more ash than the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. NASA recently approved a third extension of the Galileo mission, including a pass over Io's north pole in August 2001. The spacecraft's trajectory will pass directly over Tvashtar at an altitude of 200 kilometers (124 miles). Will Galileo fly through an active plume? That depends on whether this eruption is long- lived like Pele or brief, and it also depends on how high the plume is next August. Two Pele-sized plumes are inferred to have erupted in 1979 during the four months between Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 flybys, as indicated by new Pele-sized rings in Voyager 2 images. Those eruptions, both from high-latitude locations, were shorter-lived than Pele, but their actual durations are unknown. In May, Galileo will get another, more distant look at Tvashtar. It has been said that Io is the heartbeat of the jovian magnetosphere. The two giant plumes evidenced in these images may have had significant effects on the types, density and distribution of neutral and charged particles in the Jupiter system during the joint observations of the system by Galileo and Cassini from November 2000 to March 2001. These Cassini images were acquired on Jan. 2, 2001, except for the frame at the far right, which was acquired a day earlier. The Galileo images were acquired on Dec. 30 and 31, 2000. Cassini was about 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) from Io, 10 times farther than Galileo. More information about the Cassini and Galileo joint observations of the Jupiter system is available online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby . Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Galileo and Cassini missions for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
Saturn's moon Rhea
PIA02240
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Saturn's moon Rhea
Original Caption Released with Image NASA's Voyager 1 took this high resolution color image of Rhea just before the spacecraft's closest approach to the Saturnian moon on Nov. 12, 1980 from a range of 128,000 kilometers (79,500 miles). The area shown is one of the most heavily cratered on Rhea, and indicates an ancient surface dating back to the period immediately following the formation of the planets 4.5 billion years ago. The photograph shows surface features about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) in diameter, similar to a view of Earth's Moon through a telescope. Other areas of Rhea's surface are deficient in the very large (100 kilometers or 62 miles or larger) craters, indicating a change in the nature of the impacting bodies and an early period of surface activity. White areas on the edges of several of the craters in the upper right corner are probably fresh ice exposed on steep slopes or possibly deposited by volatiles leaking from fractured regions. The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
First Flyby of Dione
Description First Flyby of Dione
Full Description This map of Saturn's moon Dione, generated from Cassini images taken during the spacecraft's first two orbits of Saturn, illustrates the imaging coverage planned during Cassini's first Dione flyby on Dec. 14, 2004. Colored lines enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging scales as Cassini approaches Dione. Cassini will zoom past Dione at a distance of approximately 81,400 kilometers (50,600 miles) during this flyby. An even closer encounter with Dione is in store for Cassini in October 2005, when the spacecraft is slated to fly past the icy moon at a mere 500 kilometers (311 miles). Images from this week's flyby will be superior in resolution to those obtained by NASA's Voyager 1 in November 1980. Voyager 1 passed Dione at a distance of 161,520 kilometers (100,364 miles) at closest approach, yielding a best resolution of approximately 1 kilometer per pixel. The area to be imaged at highest resolution by Cassini during this upcoming flyby will be centered on the bright, wispy terrain on Dione's trailing hemisphere, marked by the red outline on this map. The resolution of Cassini images in this region will be 500 meters per pixel and better. The map was created by images acquired in visible light using the Cassini narrow angle camera. The highest southern latitudes on Dione have not yet been seen by Cassini, resulting in the map's lower limit of approximately 80 degrees south latitude. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
First Flyby of Dione
Description First Flyby of Dione
Full Description This map of Saturn's moon Dione, generated from Cassini images taken during the spacecraft's first two orbits of Saturn, illustrates the imaging coverage planned during Cassini's first Dione flyby on Dec. 14, 2004. Colored lines enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging scales as Cassini approaches Dione. Cassini will zoom past Dione at a distance of approximately 81,400 kilometers (50,600 miles) during this flyby. An even closer encounter with Dione is in store for Cassini in October 2005, when the spacecraft is slated to fly past the icy moon at a mere 500 kilometers (311 miles). Images from this week's flyby will be superior in resolution to those obtained by NASA's Voyager 1 in November 1980. Voyager 1 passed Dione at a distance of 161,520 kilometers (100,364 miles) at closest approach, yielding a best resolution of approximately 1 kilometer per pixel. The area to be imaged at highest resolution by Cassini during this upcoming flyby will be centered on the bright, wispy terrain on Dione's trailing hemisphere, marked by the red outline on this map. The resolution of Cassini images in this region will be 500 meters per pixel and better. The map was created by images acquired in visible light using the Cassini narrow angle camera. The highest southern latitudes on Dione have not yet been seen by Cassini, resulting in the map's lower limit of approximately 80 degrees south latitude. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Description Here on the Gallery page you can find the very latest images, videos and products from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, including the spectacular launch, spacecraft assembly and the exciting trip to Saturn.
Full Description Saturn appears serene and majestic in the first color composite made of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its approach to the ringed planet, with arrival still 20 months away. The planet was 285 million kilometers (177 million miles) away from the spacecraft, nearly twice the distance between the Sun and Earth, when Cassini took images of it in various filters as an engineering test on Oct. 21, 2002. It is summer in Saturn's southern hemisphere. The Sun is a lofty 27 degrees below the equator and casts a semi-circular shadow of the planet on the rings. The shadow extends partway across the rings, leaving the outer A ring in sunlight. The last Saturn-bound spacecraft, Voyager 2, arrived in early northern spring. Many features seen in Voyager images -- spoke-like markings on the rings, clouds and eddies in the hazy atmosphere, ring-shepherding moons -- are not yet visible to Cassini. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, appears in the upper left. It is the only moon resolved from this distance. This composite uses a threefold enhancement in the brightness of Titan relative to the brightness of Saturn. Titan is a major attraction for scientists of the Cassini-Huygens mission. They will study its haze-enshrouded atmosphere and peer down, with special instrumentation, to its surface to look for evidence of organic processes similar to those that might have occurred on the early Earth, prior to the emergence of life. Cassini will enter orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004. It will release a piggybacked probe, Huygens, which will descend through Titan's atmosphere on Jan. 14, 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Information about the mission is available online at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. *Image Note: * * Credit: NASA/JPL/Southwest Research Institute For higher resolution, click here.
Distant Saturn
title Distant Saturn
date 10.21.2002
description Saturn appears serene and majestic in the first color composite made of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its approach to the ringed planet, with arrival still 20 months away. The planet was 285 million kilometers (177 million miles) away from the spacecraft, nearly twice the distance between the Sun and Earth, when Cassini took images of it in various filters as an engineering test on Oct. 21, 2002. It is summer in Saturn's southern hemisphere. The Sun is a lofty 27 degrees below the equator and casts a semi-circular shadow of the planet on the rings. The shadow extends partway across the rings, leaving the outer A ring in sunlight. The last Saturn-bound spacecraft, Voyager 2, arrived in early northern spring. Many features seen in Voyager images -- spoke-like markings on the rings, clouds and eddies in the hazy atmosphere, ring-shepherding moons -- are not yet visible to Cassini. Titan, Saturn's largest moon, appears in the upper left. It is the only moon resolved from this distance. This composite uses a threefold enhancement in the brightness of Titan relative to the brightness of Saturn. Titan is a major attraction for scientists of the Cassini-Huygens mission. They will study its haze-enshrouded atmosphere and peer down, with special instrumentation, to its surface to look for evidence of organic processes similar to those that might have occurred on the early Earth, prior to the emergence of life. Cassini will enter orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004. It will release a piggybacked probe, Huygens, which will descend through Titan's atmosphere on Jan. 14, 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Information about the mission is available online at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. *Image Credit*: NASA/JPL/Southwest Research Institute
Not-so-smooth bright terrain …
The highest-resolution image …
12/16/00
Date 12/16/00
Description The highest-resolution images ever obtained of Jupiter's moon Ganymede show that even smooth-looking terrain has been deformed at a fine scale. The high-resolution image taken of the bright Harpagia Sulcus area by NASA's Galileo spacecraft during a May 20, 2000, flyby of Ganymede shows features as small as 16 meters (52 feet). This area was selected for a closer look because, in images taken by NASA's Voyager spacecraft about 20 years earlier, it looked as flat as a hockey rink. It appears smooth even in a medium-resolution Galileo image (at 116 meters or 380 feet per pixel) that is superimposed over a Voyager image in the top portion of this frame. But the closeup shot revealed that, instead of a hockey rink, the area has ups and downs that would be challenging for a cross-country skier. North is to the top of the picture and the Sun illuminates the surface from the left. The medium-resolution image mosaic is centered at -16 degrees latitude and 310 degrees longitude, and covers an area approximately 282 by 144 kilometers (175 by 89 miles). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the Galileo mission home page at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo . Background information and educational context for the images can be found at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. This image was produced by DLR (German Aerospace Center), Berlin, and Brown University, Providence, R.I., http://solarsystem.dlr.de/ and http://www.planetary.brown.edu/ . # # # # #
Saturn With Rhea and Dione ( …
Title Saturn With Rhea and Dione (false color)
Description NASA's Voyager 2 took this 'false color' photograph of Saturn on July 21, 1981, when the spacecraft was 33.9 million kilometers (21 million miles) from the planet. Two bright, presumably convective cloud patterns are visible in the mid-northern hemisphere and several dark spoke-like features can be seen in the broad B-ring (left of planet). The moons Rhea and Dione appear as blue dots to the south and southeast of Saturn, respectively. Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn on Aug. 25, 1981. The Voyager project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
Date 08.13.1981
Towering Peaks of Iapetus
Description This stereo image, or anaglyph, shows huge mountains on Saturn's moon Iapetus, imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its very close flyby in Sept. 2007. These mountains are located at the moon's equator in the westward-most part of the dark terrain.
Full Description This stereo image, or anaglyph, shows huge mountains on Saturn's moon Iapetus, imaged by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its very close flyby in Sept. 2007. These mountains are located at the moon's equator in the westward-most part of the dark terrain. Here, the brightness pattern on the surface is very complex. The mountain in the center of this view is part of the range informally named "the Voyager mountains" that were first detected on the limb of the moon in NASA Voyager spacecraft images. Interestingly, its eastern (right) flank is dark, while the other flanks are bright. This suggests that external material arriving on Iapetus from its orbital motion might play a role in the darkening process. One plausible source, the outer moons of Saturn, might provide a very thin but steady stream of very dark particles from the eastern direction as seen from this mountain. The mosaic consists of six image footprints across the surface of Iapetus. The view is centered on terrain near 0.1 degree north latitude, 199 degrees west longitude. Image scale is approximately 46 meters (151 feet) per pixel. The clear spectral filter images in this mosaic were obtained with the Cassini spacecraft narrow- angle camera on Sept. 10, 2007. Distances for the blue portion of the image range from 7,744 to 9,135 kilometers (4,812 to 5,676 miles) from Iapetus, distances for the red portion of the image range from 20,267 to 21,595 kilometers (12,593 to 13,418 miles) from the moon. A separate, non-stereo version of the scene is included for comparison. Iapetus is 1,468 kilometers (912 miles) across. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date October 8, 2007
Titanic Complexity (Color)
Description This view of Titan reveals structure in the moon's complex atmosphere.
Full Description This view of Titan reveals structure in the moon's complex atmosphere. The geometry of the Cassini spacecraft's view of Titan during this flyby was similar to that of Voyager 1's pass in 1980. The view has been greatly contrast-enhanced and shows intriguing structure in the north of Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across) that is also clearly visible in a violet light view (see PIA07701) taken at about the same time. The color view was created by combining images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters. The images were taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 26, 2005, at a distance of approximately 193,000 kilometers (120,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 29 degrees. The image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date February 13, 2006
Titanic Complexity
Description This view of Titan reveals structure in the moon's complex atmosphere.
Full Description This view of Titan reveals structure in the moon's complex atmosphere. The geometry of the Cassini spacecraft's view of Titan during this flyby was similar to that of Voyager 1's pass in 1980. The image was taken in visible violet light and shows the detached high haze layer that envelops Titan (5,150 kilometers, or 3,200 miles across), with additional complexity to its structure in the far north. Some of this atmospheric structure is also visible in a color view (see PIA07700) taken at about the same time.. The image was taken in visible violet light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Dec. 26, 2005, at a distance of approximately 194,000 kilometers (121,000 miles) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 29 degrees. The image scale is 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . *Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date February 13, 2006
Changes on Io around Maui an …
PIA01067
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Changes on Io around Maui and Amirani between Voyager 1 and Galileo's second orbit
Original Caption Released with Image Detail of changes on Jupiter's moon Io in the region around Maui and Amirani as seen by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in April 1979 (left frame) and NASA's Galileo spacecraft in September 1996 (right frame). North is to the top of both frames. The dark, north - south running linear feature, Amirani, is approximately 350 km long. Maui is the large circular feature immediately west of the southern end of Amirani. Note the brightening of the west side of Maui and the bright patch on the west side of Amirani. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo
Changes on Io around Volund …
PIA01071
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Changes on Io around Volund between Voyager 1 and Galileo's second orbit
Original Caption Released with Image Detail of changes on Jupiter's moon Io in the region around Volund as seen by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in April 1979 (left frame) and NASA's Galileo spacecraft in September 1996 (right frame). North is to the top of both frames which are approximately 600 kilometers by 600 kilometers. Note the new linear feature, which may be a volcanic fissure, trending east from the southern end of Volund. Dark diffuse material lies to the west and a ring of bright material which may be SO2- rich plume deposits appears to be centered near the middle of the new linear feature. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo
Changes on Io between Voyage …
PIA01070
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Changes on Io between Voyager 1 and Galileo's second orbit around an unnamed vent North of Prometheus
Original Caption Released with Image Detail of changes around a probable vent about 650 kilometers north of Prometheus on Jupiter's moon Io as seen in images obtained by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in April 1979 (left) and the imaging system aboard NASA's Galileo spacecraft on September 7th, 1996 (right). The re-arranging of dark and light radial surface patterns may be a result of plume fallout. North is to the top of both images which are approximately 400 kilometers square. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo
D Ring Revelations
PIA07714
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title D Ring Revelations
Original Caption Released with Image http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ]., This montage of images from the NASA Cassini and Voyager missions shows that structural evolution has occurred in Saturn's D ring (the innermost ring) during the quarter century separating the two missions. The inset image reveals structure with an unprecedented level of fine detail. The lower panel was taken in 1980 by Voyager 1 from a distance of about 250,000 kilometers (155,000 miles). The bright material at the lower left is the inner edge of the C-ring. Interior to this feature, we see three discrete ringlets. From right to left, these are called D73, D72 and D68, respectively. The upper panel, obtained by Cassini from a distance of 272,000 kilometers (169,000 miles) on May 3, 2005, shows the same region from a similar viewing geometry. The green line marks the edge of the C-ring, which was not overexposed like the Voyager image. Image scale in this Cassini view is about 13 kilometers (8 miles). There have been some very significant changes in the appearance of the D ring since observed by Voyager. The most dramatic changes involve D72, which was the brightest feature in the D-ring 25 years ago. Since then, D72 has decreased in brightness by more than an order of magnitude relative to the other ringlets. It also has moved inward about 200 kilometers (125 miles) relative to the other features in the D ring. Cassini has also observed the D-ring at much higher resolution than was possible for Voyager, revealing surprising fine-scale structures. The inset narrow-angle camera image (upper right) was taken on May 21, 2005, in a very different geometry from the larger scale Cassini panel to its left. This close-up shows the region between D73 and the C-ring at 2 kilometer (1 mile) per pixel resolution. This region contains a periodic wave-like structure with a wavelength of 30 kilometers (19 miles). The faint vertical bands in the image are instrumental artifacts. As for the significance of these findings, the time-variability of the rings over only decades can provide information about how the rings are maintained and confined, and how long they last. The fine structure in the D-ring (visible in the inset) could be related to perturbations from the planet or its magnetic field. The Cassini results provide information about the dynamics of ring particles in a new regime -- one very close to the planet and sparsely populated by icy particles the size of dust. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage
Iapetus' New Year's Flyby
PIA06165
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Iapetus' New Year's Flyby
Original Caption Released with Image Figure 1 This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Iapetus (1,436 kilometers, or 892 miles across), generated from images taken by NASA's Voyager spacecraft, illustrates the imaging coverage planned during Cassini's flyby on Dec. 31, 2004. Cassini will glide past Iapetus at a distance of approximately 123,400 kilometers (76,700 miles) on New Year's Eve, at a speed of about 2 kilometers per second (4,474 miles per hour). Imaging coverage will be focused primarily on the dark terrain of Iapetus' leading hemisphere, in the area known as Cassini Regio. The spacecraft's namesake, Jean-Dominique Cassini, discovered Iapetus in 1672 and was only able to see the moon's bright trailing hemisphere. In figure 1, colored lines on the map enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging scales as Cassini approaches Iapetus. Images from Cassini's flyby will be superior in resolution to those obtained by Voyager 2 in August 1981. Voyager 2 passed Iapetus at a distance of approximately 909,000 kilometers (564,800 miles) at closest approach, yielding a best resolution image of about 8 kilometers per pixel. The resolution of Cassini images from this flyby will be 1.5 kilometers per pixel and better. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ].
Iapetus' New Year's Flyby
PIA06165
Saturn
Imaging Science Subsystem - …
Title Iapetus' New Year's Flyby
Original Caption Released with Image Figure 1 This map of the surface of Saturn's moon Iapetus (1,436 kilometers, or 892 miles across), generated from images taken by NASA's Voyager spacecraft, illustrates the imaging coverage planned during Cassini's flyby on Dec. 31, 2004. Cassini will glide past Iapetus at a distance of approximately 123,400 kilometers (76,700 miles) on New Year's Eve, at a speed of about 2 kilometers per second (4,474 miles per hour). Imaging coverage will be focused primarily on the dark terrain of Iapetus' leading hemisphere, in the area known as Cassini Regio. The spacecraft's namesake, Jean-Dominique Cassini, discovered Iapetus in 1672 and was only able to see the moon's bright trailing hemisphere. In figure 1, colored lines on the map enclose regions that will be covered at different imaging scales as Cassini approaches Iapetus. Images from Cassini's flyby will be superior in resolution to those obtained by Voyager 2 in August 1981. Voyager 2 passed Iapetus at a distance of approximately 909,000 kilometers (564,800 miles) at closest approach, yielding a best resolution image of about 8 kilometers per pixel. The resolution of Cassini images from this flyby will be 1.5 kilometers per pixel and better. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov ]. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org [ http://ciclops.org ].
Voyager-to-Galileo Changes, …
PIA01063
Jupiter
Solid-State Imaging
Title Voyager-to-Galileo Changes, Io's Anti-Jove Hemisphere
Original Caption Released with Image Shown here is a comparison of a Galileo color image (right) of Jupiter's moon Io, with a Voyager mosaic (left) reprojected to the same geometry as the Galileo image. The image on the right was obtained by the Galileo spacecraft's imaging camera on September 7th, 1996, the mosaic on the left was obtained by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979. Color is synthesized from green and violet filters only in both cases, as these are the only two filters that are reasonably similar between Voyager and Galileo. Many surface changes can be seen due to volcanic activity from 1979 to 1996. North is to the top of both frames. Galileo was about 487,000 kilometers (302,000 miles) from Io on September 7, 1996. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA manages the Galileo mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, DC. JPL is an operating division of California Institute of Technology (Caltech). This image and other images and data received from Galileo are posted on the World Wide Web, on the Galileo mission home page at URL http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov. Background information and educational context for the images can be found at URL http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/sepo
Intriguing Enceladus
Description Intriguing Enceladus
Full Description 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. Enceladus is 499 kilometers (310 miles) across. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow angle camera on Oct. 27, 2004, at a distance of about 766,000 kilometers (476,000 miles) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 34 degrees. The image scale is 4.6 kilometers (2.8 miles) per pixel. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org . *Image Credit:* NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Map of Dione - December 2006
Description Map of Dione - December 2006
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Dione was created using data taken by the Cassini spacecraft, with gaps in coverage filled in by NASA's Voyager spacecraft data. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 400 meters (1,310 feet) per pixel. Equidistant projections preserve distances on a body, with some distortion of area and direction. The mean radius of Dione used for projection of this map is 560 kilometers (348 miles). This map is an update to the version released in December 2005. See Map of Dione - December 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 29, 2006
Map of Enceladus - December …
Description Map of Enceladus - December 2006
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Enceladus was created using data taken by the Cassini spacecraft, with gaps in coverage filled in by NASA Voyager spacecraft data. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 300 meters (980 feet) per pixel. Equidistant projections preserve distances on a body, with some distortion of area and direction. The mean radius of Enceladus used for projection of this map is 252 kilometers (157 miles). This map is an update to the version released in December 2005. See Map of Enceladus - December 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 29, 2006
Map of Mimas - December 2006
Description Map of Mimas - December 2006
Full Description This global digital map of Saturn's moon Mimas was created using data taken by the Cassini spacecraft, with gaps in coverage filled in by NASA's Voyager spacecraft data. The map is an equidistant projection and has a scale of 400 meters (1,310 feet) per pixel. Equidistant projections preserve distances on a body, with some distortion of area and direction. The mean radius of Mimas used for projection of this map is 198 kilometers (123 miles). This map is an update to the version released in December 2005. See Map of Mimas - December 2005. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org . Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Date December 29, 2006
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