Friday, July 15, 2005

Highest Resolution images of Enceladus


The JPL Cassini site has this image on their front page. This is a wide-angle image from the UVIS occultation ride-along. I felt this deserves its own topic if only because this is the wide-angle image, imagine what the narrow angle image will look like.

This wide-angle image has a resolution of approximately 20 meters/pixel.

Update: the NAC view is now available. this image has a resolution of 2 m/pixel. You can clearly see several large boulders in a region of high tectonic deformation. The WAC image that was above can still be seen on the JPL Cassini Front Page.

6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think we'll just have to be patient, and hope that nothing untoward happens to Cassini in the meantime.

I wonder - has anyone proposed a camera system with disposable clear lens covers?

7/16/2005 05:16:00 AM  
Blogger Jason Perry said...

The image was a ride along with a UVIS occultation, so UVIS was controlling the pointing of the spacecraft. During an occultation, UVIS is point at a star, rather than targetting a specific point on the surface. I imagine if ISS was prime during C/A, the smear would be less. But I am certainly happy with what we got, don't get me wrong.

7/16/2005 11:50:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You know Jason, if we keep getting all these interesting hints that the Enceladan interior may still be liquid, we may start hearing about its astrobiological interest...

7/17/2005 10:33:00 AM  
Blogger Jason Perry said...

roby72: I got the resolution from a different source...but you maybe right in this case.

minites: Remember, there are large regions that don't look like Europa, so I don't think we are looking at the same cause.

7/17/2005 11:30:00 AM  
Blogger Jason Perry said...

there maybe a conflict between the "distances" mentioned on the JPL raw image page and reality since the JPL raw image page maybe based on pre-flyby predicts.

7/17/2005 02:07:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

At the velocities everything is moving, These images are awesome!

In April, Flight control said they were experiencing some 'jitter', possibly due to a problem with the reaction wheels.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=557

If this problem still exists, it would be amplified in these close-ups.

7/22/2005 07:47:00 AM  

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