T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

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ponylady
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T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by ponylady »

…. for the grande finale of the greatest orbiting space probe mission to date.

On April 22nd Cassini/Huygens will pass near Titan for the last time, and this with a twist: This swingby will reduce Cassini’s velocity relative to Saturn and shift the current orbit from just outside the main rings to an orbit that passes just inside the (innermost) D-Ring, only a few thousand klicks above the clouds of Saturn.
Since Cassini’s fuelreserves are very low the probe will only be able to sustain this orbit for 22 times before the probe will find a fiery death in Saturn’s clouds.

20 years in space & 13 years in orbit the probes mechanical state is remarkably well, even though no pitstops @ local bodyshops were available.

Since the probe wasn’t sterilized before leaving earth the possibility of contamination of possible life on Titan or Enceladus exists, which means by Nasa-guidelines the probe has to be destroyed without harming those 2 celestial bodies. Hence the plunge into Saturn, even though 12 more months would have probably been possible.

So from now to September 15th we will see the 1st images of Saturn’s Rings taken from the inside out. I’m looking forward to these.

Originally planned for a 4 year orbital mission it has been twice extended,
and boy was it worth it, because Cassini/Huygens list of discoveries & firsts
is huge, among them:

1st landing of a probe on an outer solarsystem body (Huygens on Titan in 2005.
though only half the data was recorded because nobody considered the Doppler-effect & the resulting wavelength-shift)


Methane-based seas & oceans on Titan

cryovulcanism on Enceladus including free hydrogen in the plumes.[/i][/b]
(This means there is a possible energysource for methanebased organisms in the water-ocean under Enceladus’ icy crust)
really cool pix of a couple of the small shepard moons inside the rings.

enjoy a couple of the best Cassini-images (all pix © Nasa)

the “flying saucer” moon Atlas
Image


Pan, looking like a walnut or a hat
Image

the “earhart-propeller” inside a ring, caused by a moonlet
Image

the “Herschel-crater” on Mimas

Image

Enceladus plumes on the south pole.
Image


pale blue dot
( look @ 17.30 o’clock inside the large outer blue ring & the fainter inner blue ring. that is earth)

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/legacy/mult ... 004916.jpg
This image is too large for the boards tables, so please visit this link


for more info visit http://Saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
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cdinbonds
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by cdinbonds »

My favorite "Pale Blue Dot" image and quote from the late Dr. Carl Sagan. Sums up all our folly.

http://www.planetary.org/explore/space- ... e-dot.html
There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
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bound_jenny
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by bound_jenny »

I remember the first reasonably clear images from Saturn, via the Voyager probes, back in 1980-1. Among the stunners was Mimas, with huge Herschel crater. One of the mission ops commented, jokingly, "is that the engine?". This guy wasn't a Star Wars fan - in 1977, the same year the Voyagers were launched, the first Star Wars movie was released, and one of its most prominent props was the Death Star... in an eerie twist to the "art imitates life" meme, Mimas is a dead ringer for the Death Star...

Saturn was one of the first objects I viewed in my very first telescope, a rickety, department-store 60mm refractor, and though the image was fuzzy, and bounced around at the slightest breath of wind, it remains etched in my memory. I finally had seen with my own eyes the subject of so many encyclopedia photos. Through my current 'scope, a 200mm SCT reflector, it's much sharper, steadier, but no less spectacular and awe-inspiring. It remains one of my favorite objects to show to guests, and the reaction is universally one of astonishment.

Cassini was built tough, like the Voyagers, and lasted far longer than her expected life span, and in the process returned far more data and spectacular images (Pony's samples are just shaving a sliver off the tip of the iceberg) than any of the project scientists ever hoped for. The two-faced moon Iapetus, finally seen up close, now reveals how the dark and light surfaces merge at their border. Ever since the early astronomers first saw it, Iapetus has been a mystery, if only because it was visible on one side of Saturn (snow-white face) and "switched off" on the other (coal-black face). But answering one question inevitably produces another - what's that ridge along the equator that makes it look like an unshelled walnut?

How about that sponge moon, Hyperion? Geyser-endowed Enceladus, white as snow? Tiny moons that exchange orbits? A giant moon as big as Mercury, with hydrocarbon seas and ice-crystal dunes?

Every time we go somewhere, out there, we find weird and wonderful places to explore, with many questions answered, and many, many more posed.

Thank you, Cassini, for so many years of discovery and wonder. May your last images be as spectacular and awe-inspiring as the first.

Jenny.
Helplessness is a doorway to the innermost reaches of the soul.
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ponylady
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by ponylady »

godspeed, cassini.

thanx for all the wondrous discoveries.
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bound_jenny
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by bound_jenny »

Amen to that, for sure.

Jenny.
Helplessness is a doorway to the innermost reaches of the soul.
If my corset isn't tight, it just isn't right!
Kink is the spice of life!
Come to the Dark Side - we have cookies!
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JIMDINI
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by JIMDINI »

spacecraft04.jpg
Birth_of Venus.jpg

Goodbye, a fantastic thirty years :hi:




But as we already had pictures of Venus why all the fuss..... :facepalm: ..I know join the queue :whip:
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Gregovic
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by Gregovic »

So long Cassini and thanks for all the data
How may I serve you? *Curtsey*
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cdinbonds
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Re: T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..

Post by cdinbonds »

I knew it was coming soon, but when I read the report in the news, it still brought a tear to my eye.
There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons - for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
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