Pandy
07-01-2004, 02:47 PM
First Saturn Pictures Show Sharp-Edged Rings
By Ben Berkowitz
PASADENA, Calif. (*******) - Hours after it completed a journey of nearly seven years to Saturn, the spacecraft Cassini sent its first pictures back to Earth on Thursday, showing sharp edges and ripples of energy in the planet's enormous rings.
The early photos, taken from the unilluminated side of the rings, were full of electronic "noise" and only in black and white, but were still clear enough to show fine ring structures and edges sharper than might be expected, given all the particles in the rings colliding with each other.
"Ring scientists love sharp edges. They're very mysterious -- they have to be held sharp by some mechanism," said Carolyn Porco, leader of the Cassini imaging science team.
Scientists were thrilled with the quantity and clarity of the images -- the closest pictures of the rings that will be taken during the mission. "These images are more or less serendipity," Porco said.
The images also showed "density waves," disruptions in the particles in the rings caused by the energy of moonlets passing outside them, that scientists said could best be compared to the pattern of bunching and thinning out seen in traffic jams.
Scientists from NASA (news - web sites) and other international agencies cheered and called the photos "beautiful" and "mind-blowing."
"It's so flawless it almost seems faked -- but it's not," Porco said in live commentary from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here.
The truck-sized probe slipped through those rings and entered orbit around Saturn on Wednesday night, after traveling 2.2 billion miles since its October 1997 launch. Along the way, it used the gravity of Venus, Earth and Jupiter to slingshot it out to the sixth planet from the sun.
Cassini is set to spend at least four years studying the planet, its rings and some of its 31 known moons. Much of that time will be dedicated to Titan, one of the solar system's largest and most intriguing moons, with an atmosphere and composition that have inspired science fiction dreams of an emerging home for life.
It carries on its back a smaller craft, Huygens, which is designed to break away in December and plummet onto the surface of Titan for a brief study of that moon's atmosphere, which is mostly methane and nitrogen.
That portion of the mission was designed largely by the European and Italian space agencies.
In fact, the $3 billion mission has been hailed as a model of international cooperation, with scientists from 17 countries participating.
Yet the mission has gone without a hitch, from the launch to the orbital insertion, which was completed within one second of the schedule first set years ago.
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This artist's rendition released June 28, 2004 shows the Huygens probe as it reaches the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. The Cassini spacecraft (top left corner of the image) flies over with its High Gain Antenna pointed at the probe. Saturn is seen in the background through Titan's thick atmosphere of methane, ethane and mostly nitrogen. Thin methane clouds dot the horizon, and a narrow methane spring or 'methanefall' flows from the cliff at left and drifts mostly into vapor. Smooth ice features rise out of the methane/ethane lake, and crater walls can be seen far in the distance. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. NO SALES *******/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL/Image by David Seal/Handout
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This artist's rendition shows the Huygens probe at the start of its 22-day coast phase toward one of Saturn's moons, Titan, as it is jettisoned from the Cassini spacecraft. Huygens will be the first probe to land on a world in the outer Solar System. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. NO SALES *******/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL/Image by Steven Hobbs/Handout
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An artists' rendition shows the Cassini spacecraft approaching the planet Saturn and its rings. The glint of light behind the magnetometer boom at the bottom of the spacecraft represents the reflection of the sun. Since Saturn is 930 million miles away from the sun, and consequently, about 746 million miles away from Earth, from this perspective one can get a sense in the image just how far the Cassini spacecraft has to travel to reach the mysterious ringed planet. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. (NO SALES) *******/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL/Space Science Institute/Handout.
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File photo showing the Cassini spacecraft sits on display for the media in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites), in August of 1997. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA (news - web sites), the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology (news - web sites) in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. B&W ONLY NO SALES *******/NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Handout
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During its historic close encounter with Phoebe on Friday, June 11, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft captured a series of high resolution images of the small moon, six of which have been put together to create this mosaic released Wednesday, June 23, 2004. Hints of Phoebe's irregular topography can be seen in the shadows near the lower left and upper left parts of the image. These are real features possibly crater rims or mountain peaks that are just being hit by the light of sunrise on Phoebe.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040615/mdf597248.jpg
Saturn's moon Phoebe has been battered for billions of years by interplanetary debris, and the signs of past violence are clear in new images snapped by a spacecraft headed for orbit around the ringed planet. Scientist Torrence Johnson, looking at images of Phoebe during a close pass by the robotic spacecraft Cassini, said on June 14, 2004 that he saw 'an extremely battered object.' This June 11, 2004 image shows evidence for the emerging view that Phoebe may be an ice-rich body coated with a thin layer of dark material. Small bright craters in the image are probably fairly young features. (Nasa/*******)
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The multitude of grooves for which Saturn's rings are famed, clumps in the F ring, and three Saturnian moons are visible in this NASA (news - web sites) Cassini Spacecraft image.(AFP/NASA-HO)
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040611/i/r2216863608.jpg
Dark, rough and contrary, Phoebe has long been an object of fascination to astronomers, and on June 11, 2004, NASA (news - web sites)'s Cassini space probe will fly by this moon of Saturn for the closest look yet. The images shown here were taken 13 hours apart on June 10. *******/NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Handout
By Ben Berkowitz
PASADENA, Calif. (*******) - Hours after it completed a journey of nearly seven years to Saturn, the spacecraft Cassini sent its first pictures back to Earth on Thursday, showing sharp edges and ripples of energy in the planet's enormous rings.
The early photos, taken from the unilluminated side of the rings, were full of electronic "noise" and only in black and white, but were still clear enough to show fine ring structures and edges sharper than might be expected, given all the particles in the rings colliding with each other.
"Ring scientists love sharp edges. They're very mysterious -- they have to be held sharp by some mechanism," said Carolyn Porco, leader of the Cassini imaging science team.
Scientists were thrilled with the quantity and clarity of the images -- the closest pictures of the rings that will be taken during the mission. "These images are more or less serendipity," Porco said.
The images also showed "density waves," disruptions in the particles in the rings caused by the energy of moonlets passing outside them, that scientists said could best be compared to the pattern of bunching and thinning out seen in traffic jams.
Scientists from NASA (news - web sites) and other international agencies cheered and called the photos "beautiful" and "mind-blowing."
"It's so flawless it almost seems faked -- but it's not," Porco said in live commentary from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory here.
The truck-sized probe slipped through those rings and entered orbit around Saturn on Wednesday night, after traveling 2.2 billion miles since its October 1997 launch. Along the way, it used the gravity of Venus, Earth and Jupiter to slingshot it out to the sixth planet from the sun.
Cassini is set to spend at least four years studying the planet, its rings and some of its 31 known moons. Much of that time will be dedicated to Titan, one of the solar system's largest and most intriguing moons, with an atmosphere and composition that have inspired science fiction dreams of an emerging home for life.
It carries on its back a smaller craft, Huygens, which is designed to break away in December and plummet onto the surface of Titan for a brief study of that moon's atmosphere, which is mostly methane and nitrogen.
That portion of the mission was designed largely by the European and Italian space agencies.
In fact, the $3 billion mission has been hailed as a model of international cooperation, with scientists from 17 countries participating.
Yet the mission has gone without a hitch, from the launch to the orbital insertion, which was completed within one second of the schedule first set years ago.
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This artist's rendition released June 28, 2004 shows the Huygens probe as it reaches the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. The Cassini spacecraft (top left corner of the image) flies over with its High Gain Antenna pointed at the probe. Saturn is seen in the background through Titan's thick atmosphere of methane, ethane and mostly nitrogen. Thin methane clouds dot the horizon, and a narrow methane spring or 'methanefall' flows from the cliff at left and drifts mostly into vapor. Smooth ice features rise out of the methane/ethane lake, and crater walls can be seen far in the distance. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. NO SALES *******/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL/Image by David Seal/Handout
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This artist's rendition shows the Huygens probe at the start of its 22-day coast phase toward one of Saturn's moons, Titan, as it is jettisoned from the Cassini spacecraft. Huygens will be the first probe to land on a world in the outer Solar System. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. NO SALES *******/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL/Image by Steven Hobbs/Handout
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040628/i/r1312707024.jpg
An artists' rendition shows the Cassini spacecraft approaching the planet Saturn and its rings. The glint of light behind the magnetometer boom at the bottom of the spacecraft represents the reflection of the sun. Since Saturn is 930 million miles away from the sun, and consequently, about 746 million miles away from Earth, from this perspective one can get a sense in the image just how far the Cassini spacecraft has to travel to reach the mysterious ringed planet. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. (NO SALES) *******/NASA (news - web sites)/JPL/Space Science Institute/Handout.
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File photo showing the Cassini spacecraft sits on display for the media in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center (news - web sites), in August of 1997. Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA (news - web sites), the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology (news - web sites) in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. The Cassini spacecraft is due to arrive and orbit the planet Saturn on June 30, 2004. B&W ONLY NO SALES *******/NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Handout
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20040624/capt.la10906240440.cassini_mission_la109.jpg
During its historic close encounter with Phoebe on Friday, June 11, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft captured a series of high resolution images of the small moon, six of which have been put together to create this mosaic released Wednesday, June 23, 2004. Hints of Phoebe's irregular topography can be seen in the shadows near the lower left and upper left parts of the image. These are real features possibly crater rims or mountain peaks that are just being hit by the light of sunrise on Phoebe.
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20040615/mdf597248.jpg
Saturn's moon Phoebe has been battered for billions of years by interplanetary debris, and the signs of past violence are clear in new images snapped by a spacecraft headed for orbit around the ringed planet. Scientist Torrence Johnson, looking at images of Phoebe during a close pass by the robotic spacecraft Cassini, said on June 14, 2004 that he saw 'an extremely battered object.' This June 11, 2004 image shows evidence for the emerging view that Phoebe may be an ice-rich body coated with a thin layer of dark material. Small bright craters in the image are probably fairly young features. (Nasa/*******)
http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20040612/capt.sge.dsw64.120604200557.photo00.default-345x283.jpg
The multitude of grooves for which Saturn's rings are famed, clumps in the F ring, and three Saturnian moons are visible in this NASA (news - web sites) Cassini Spacecraft image.(AFP/NASA-HO)
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20040611/i/r2216863608.jpg
Dark, rough and contrary, Phoebe has long been an object of fascination to astronomers, and on June 11, 2004, NASA (news - web sites)'s Cassini space probe will fly by this moon of Saturn for the closest look yet. The images shown here were taken 13 hours apart on June 10. *******/NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute/Handout