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domingo, 26 de marzo de 2017

ESA : Saturn’s B-ring close-up .- De cerca anillo B de Saturno

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/03/Saturn_s_B-ring_close-up
http://www.esa.int/esl/ESA_in_your_country/Spain/Primer_plano_del_anillo_B_de_Saturno

Saturn’s B-ring close-up

Primer plano del anillo B de Saturno

21 marzo 2017

Esta imagen muestra el altísimo nivel de detalle con que la sonda internacional Cassini está estudiando los anillos de escombros helados que rodean Saturno, al efectuar una serie de órbitas cercanas dedicadas en exclusiva a su observación.

Aquí vemos una región del anillo B de Saturno con el doble de detalle que lo visto hasta ahora, revelándonos toda la riqueza de su estructura.

Los anillos de Saturno están compuestos en su mayor parte por hielo de agua de muy distinto tamaño, desde partículas similares a una mota de polvo hasta rocas de decenas de metros de diámetro. Algunos de los patrones vistos en los primeros planos de los anillos fotografiados por Cassini se deben a interacciones gravitatorias con las numerosas lunas de Saturno, pero muchas de sus características carecen de explicación.

Se espera que Cassini proporcione en los próximos meses toda una biblioteca de imágenes con nuevos detalles de los anillos, que permitirán a los científicos saber más sobre estos misteriosos patrones.

Las órbitas rozando los anillos comenzaron el pasado noviembre y se extenderán hasta finales de abril, cuando empiece la gran fase final de la misión. En las 22 órbitas finales, Cassini atravesará progresivamente la brecha entre los anillos y Saturno, antes de sumergirse en la atmósfera del planeta a mediados de septiembre para concluir su increíble odisea de 13 años en el sistema saturniano.

Esta imagen fue capturada en luz visible por la cámara de gran angular de Cassini el 18 de diciembre de 2016, a una distancia de unos 51.000 km de los anillos, apuntando hacia el lado no iluminado. La escala de la imagen es de unos 360 m/píxel.

Para poder conservar todos los detalles de la imagen, esta no se ha procesado para eliminar las pequeñas manchas brillantes causadas por los rayos cósmicos y la radiación de partículas cargadas en las proximidades del planeta.

Cassini-Huygens es una misión conjunta de la NASA, la ESA y la ASI, la agencia espacial italiana. Esta imagen fue publicada por primera vez el 30 de enero de 2017.

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Title Saturn’s B-ring close-up
Released 20/03/2017 10:00 am
Copyright NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute a vuelo
Description

This image shows the incredible detail at which the international Cassini spacecraft is observing Saturn’s rings of icy debris as part of its dedicated close ‘ring grazing’ orbits.

This image focuses on a region in Saturn’s B ring, which is seen in twice as much detail as ever before, revealing a wealth of rich structure.

Saturn’s rings are composed mainly of water ice and range from tiny dust-size specks to boulders tens of metres across. Some of the patterns seen in Cassini’s close images of the rings are generated by gravitational interactions with Saturn’s many moons, but many details remain unexplained.

Cassini is expected to return a library of new detailed images of the rings in the coming months, which will help planetary scientists learn more about the mysterious patterns.

The spacecraft’s ring-grazing orbits began last November, and will continue until late April, when the mission enters its ‘grand finale’ phase. During 22 finale orbits Cassini will repeatedly dive through the gap between the rings and Saturn before plunging into the planet’s atmosphere in mid-September to conclude its incredible 13-year odyssey in the Saturn system.

The image was taken in visible light with Cassini’s wide-angle camera on 18 December 2016, at a distance of about 51 000 km from the rings, and looks towards the unilluminated side of the rings. Image scale is about 360 m per pixel.

In order to preserve the finest details, this image has not been processed to remove the many small bright blemishes, which are created by cosmic rays and charged particle radiation near the planet.

The Cassini–Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency

The image was first featured in a release published on 30 January 2017.
Id 374840

sábado, 25 de marzo de 2017

NASA : The Big One .- El gigantesco cráter Herschel en el satélite Mimas del planeta Saturno...

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20523/the-big-one

Mimas' gigantic crater Herschel lies near the moon's limb in this Cassini view.

A big enough impact could potentially break up a moon. Luckily for Mimas, whatever created Herschel was not quite big enough to cause that level of disruption.

When large impacts happen, they deliver tremendous amounts of energy -- sometimes enough to cause global destruction. Even impacts that are not catastrophic can leave enormous, near-permanent scars on bodies like Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across).

This view looks toward the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Mimas. North on Mimas is up and rotated 32 degrees to the left. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 19, 2016.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 53,000 miles (85,000 kilometers) from Mimas. Image scale is 1,677 feet (511 meters) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

and

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at

http://ciclops.org .

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Last Updated: March 13, 2017

Editor: Tony Greicius

Tags: Cassini, Image of the Day, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mimas, Moons, Saturn, Solar System,

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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domingo, 19 de febrero de 2017

NASA : F for Fabulous .- F para Fabulos

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/PIA20519/f-for-fabulous

When seen up close, the F ring of Saturn resolves into multiple dusty strands. This Cassini view shows three bright strands and a very faint fourth strand off to the right.

The central strand is the core of the F ring. The other strands are not independent at all, but are actually sections of long spirals of material that wrap around Saturn. The material in the spirals was likely knocked out from the F ring's core during interactions with a small moon. To read more about the spiral, see The F Ring's Spiral Arm .

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 38 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 18, 2016.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 122,000 miles (197,000 kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Ring-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 47 degrees. Image scale is 0.7 miles (1.2 kilometers) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit

and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at

Last Updated: Feb. 13, 2017

Editor: Martin Perez

Tags: Cassini, Image of the Day, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Saturn, Solar System,

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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domingo, 12 de febrero de 2017

NASA : Potentially Hospitable Enceladus .- El satélite de Saturno Encelado Potencialmente Hospitalario

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20522/potentially-hospitable-enceladus

Seen from outside, Enceladus appears to be like most of its sibling moons: cold, icy and inhospitable. But under that forbidding exterior may exist the very conditions needed for life.

Over the course of the Cassini mission, observations have shown that Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across) not only has watery jets sending icy grains into space; under its icy crust it also has a global ocean, and may have hydrothermal activity as well. Since scientists believe liquid water is a key ingredient for life, the implications for future missions searching for life elsewhere in our solar system could be significant.

This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Enceladus. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 6 degrees to the right. The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 27, 2016.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 81,000 miles (130,000 kilometers) from Enceladus. Image scale is 2,566 feet (782 meters) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
and
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
The Cassini imaging team homepage is at
http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Last Updated: Feb. 6, 2017

Editor: Tony Greicius

Tags: Cassini, Enceladus, Image of the Day, Moons,

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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domingo, 5 de febrero de 2017

NASA : Coy Dione

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20514/coy-dione

Dione's lit hemisphere faces away from Cassini's camera, yet the moon's darkened surface features are dimly illuminated in this image, due to Saturnshine.

Although direct sunlight provides the best illumination for imaging, light reflected off of Saturn can do the job as well. In this image, Dione (698 miles or 1,123 kilometers across) is above Saturn's day side, and the moon's night side is faintly illuminated by sunlight reflected off the planet's disk.

This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Dione. North on Dione is up and rotated 8 degrees to the right. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 23, 2016.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 313,000 miles (504,000 kilometers) from Dione. Image scale is 1.8 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

and

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Last Updated: Jan. 30, 2017

Editor: Tony Greicius

Tags: Cassini, Dione, Image of the Day, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Moons, Saturn, Solar System,

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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domingo, 29 de enero de 2017

NASA : Daphnis Up Close .- Dafnis de cerca........

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia21056/daphnis-up-close

The wavemaker moon, Daphnis, is featured in this view, taken as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made one of its ring-grazing passes over the outer edges of Saturn's rings on Jan. 16, 2017. This is the closest view of the small moon obtained yet.

Daphnis (5 miles or 8 kilometers across) orbits within the 42-kilometer (26-mile) wide Keeler Gap. Cassini's viewing angle causes the gap to appear narrower than it actually is, due to foreshortening.

The little moon's gravity raises waves in the edges of the gap in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Cassini was able to observe the vertical structures in 2009, around the time of Saturn's equinox (see PIA11654).

Like a couple of Saturn's other small ring moons, Atlas and Pan, Daphnis appears to have a narrow ridge around its equator and a fairly smooth mantle of material on its surface -- likely an accumulation of fine particles from the rings. A few craters are obvious at this resolution. An additional ridge can be seen further north that runs parallel to the equatorial band.

Fine details in the rings are also on display in this image. In particular, a grainy texture is seen in several wide lanes which hints at structures where particles are clumping together. In comparison to the otherwise sharp edges of the Keeler Gap, the wave peak in the gap edge at left has a softened appearance. This is possibly due to the movement of fine ring particles being spread out into the gap following Daphnis' last close approach to that edge on a previous orbit.

A faint, narrow tendril of ring material follows just behind Daphnis (to its left). This may have resulted from a moment when Daphnis drew a packet of material out of the ring, and now that packet is spreading itself out.

An enhanced version of the image is also available, which has been processed to remove some of the smearing due to spacecraft motion, resulting in a slightly sharper view.

Enhanced version.

The image was taken in visible (green) light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 17,000 miles (28,000 kilometers) from Daphnis and at a Sun-Daphnis-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 71 degrees. Image scale is 551 feet (168 meters) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
and
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.
The Cassini imaging team homepage is at
http://ciclops.org.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Last Updated: Jan. 24, 2017

Editor: Tony Greicius

Tags: Cassini, Image of the Day, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Moons, Saturn, Solar System,

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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domingo, 22 de enero de 2017

Cassini Ring Dive Ride Along.- Catching Cassini’s call .- Cogiendo una llamada de la Sonda Cassini.........

The recordings – some batches comprising up to 25 GB – are passed to the Cassini radio science team for analysis.

“The ESA stations are helping to acquire extremely important radio science data from Cassini, highlighting how interagency cooperation can make planetary missions even more valuable,” notes Aseel Anabtawi, from the radio science group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Some recording contacts between Cassini and Earth will last over 10 hours, and require technically complex handovers of the signal from an ESA to a NASA station and vice versa. In addition, specialists in Darmstadt must perform very precise frequency calculations for the recording passes.

“Supporting Cassini radio science for the mission’s Grand Finale requires not only teamwork at ESA, but also deep collaboration between the agencies,” says ESA’s Thomas Beck, responsible for ground station services.

Catching Cassini’s call

This view shows Saturn's northern hemisphere in 2016, as that part of the planet nears its northern hemisphere summer solstice in May 2017

Above Saturn

13 January 2017

This week, ESA deep-space radio dishes on two continents are listening for signals from the international Cassini spacecraft, now on its final tour of Saturn.

ESA’s sensitive tracking antennas at New Norcia, Western Australia, and Malargüe, Argentina, are being called in to help with crucial observations during Cassini’s last months in orbit, dubbed the ‘Grand Finale’.

The Cassini–Huygens mission is one of the most successful exploration endeavours ever.

Launched in October 1997, the Cassini orbiter delivered Europe’s Huygens probe to the surface of Saturn’s mysterious moon Titan in 2005, just a few months after becoming the first spacecraft to enter orbit around the giant gas planet.

In addition to Huygens’ historic delivery 12 years ago on 14 January, Cassini has returned a wealth of information from Saturn’s system, including images and other data from the massive planet, its multiple moons and its hauntingly beautiful system of rings.

Now running low on fuel, Cassini will be commanded to dive into Saturn’s upper atmosphere on 15 September, where it will burn up like a meteor.

Huygens landing on Titan

As part of its final ambitious observing plan, the craft began last month making a series of 20 orbits, arcing high above the planet’s north pole then diving down, skimming the narrow F-ring at the edge of the main rings.

Then, starting in April, Cassini will leap over the rings to begin its final series of 22 daring dives, taking it between the planet and the inner edge of the rings.

ESA’s Big Iron listens in

Between December 2016 and July 2017, ESA' ground stations will work with NASA’s Deep Space Network to record radio signals transmitted by Cassini across 1.6 billion km, helping scientists to study Saturn’s atmosphere and its enigmatic rings, bringing us closer to understanding its origins.

New Norcia tracking station

Access the video

They will record signals transmitted from Cassini that have crossed or bounced off Saturn’s atmosphere or rings. Variations in the strength and frequency contain valuable information on the composition, state and structure of whatever they have passed through.

In addition, tiny wobbles in Cassini’s orbit due to the varying pull of gravity can be teased from the signals, helping to build our understanding of the planet’s interior.

First passes

The first three recording passes involving ESA stations were conducted in December, followed by two more on 3 and 10 January. Twenty more deep-space link-ups are scheduled.

“For the first few months of 2017, we’re mostly recording signals that will transit through the ring system or the atmosphere,” says Daniel Firre, the service manager at ESA’s mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

“After April, as Cassini’s orbit gets lower, we’ll switch to recording signals to be used for gravity analysis.”

ESA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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martes, 17 de enero de 2017

ESA :Global colour mosaic of Dione .- Un mosaico global de Dione en color.............

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/01/Global_colour_mosaic_of_Dione

http://www.esa.int/esl/ESA_in_your_country/Spain/Un_mosaico_global_de_Dione_en_color

Global colour mosaic of Dione

Un mosaico global de Dione en color

9 enero 2017

Dione es una luna helada de 1.122 kilómetros de diámetro que gira alrededor de Saturno y que ocupa la 15.ª posición en la lista de los mayores satélites naturales del Sistema Solar.

Este mosaico global en color, que muestra la sugerente superficie del satélite, se ha generado a partir de imágenes tomadas por la nave internacional Cassini durante sus primeros diez años de exploración del sistema saturniano.

Quizá lo más sorprendente sea la diferencia en color y brillo entre las mitades izquierda y derecha de la imagen. Corresponden, respectivamente, a los hemisferios anterior y posterior del satélite respecto a la dirección en que este se desplaza por su órbita de 2,7 días alrededor de Saturno.

Se cree que la capa oscura que se aprecia en el hemisferio posterior se debe a la radiación de magnetosfera saturniana, que hace que los elementos orgánicos de la superficie de esta luna adquieran un aspecto más oscuro y rojizo.

Las líneas blanquecinas que atraviesan la superficie en color son barrancos de hielo, algunos con varios cientos de metros de altura, fruto de fracturas tectónicas.

En cambio, el hemisferio anterior se ha visto teñido por el polvo helado del anillo E, que se alimenta de las minúsculas partículas que escapan de la cercana luna Encélado.

Mientras que Encélado expulsa continuamente al espacio gas y partículas de hielo a través de las fracturas que rodean su polo sur, Dione no parece mostrar actividad en la actualidad, aunque su superficie fracturada apunta a un pasado geológico más activo.

De hecho, el reciente estudio de un modelo teórico publicado por investigadores independientes sugiere que un océano subterráneo podría rodear el núcleo rocoso del satélite, oculto a unos 100 kilómetros de su maltrecha corteza.

Este mosaico global fue publicado por primera vez en 2014. La resolución de la imagen es de unos 250 m/píxel.

Cassini-Huygens es una misión conjunta de la NASA, la ESA y la ASI, la agencia espacial italiana. La misión fue lanzada en 1997, alcanzando el sistema saturniano en 2004, y la sonda Huygens aterrizó en Titán en enero de 2005. En septiembre de este año, la nave Cassini se sumergirá en la atmósfera de Saturno para dar fin a su increíble misión.

(9.78 MB)

Details

Title Global colour mosaic of Dione
Released 09/01/2017 9:00 am
Copyright NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Lunar and Planetary Institute
Description

Meet Dione, a 1122 km-diameter icy satellite of Saturn and the 15th largest moon in the Solar System.

This global colour mosaic of the moon’s intriguing surface was produced from images taken by the international Cassini spacecraft during its first 10 years of exploring the Saturn system.

Perhaps the most striking observation is the difference in colour and brightness between the left and right halves of the image. They correspond to the ‘trailing’ and ‘leading’ hemispheres respectively, in terms of the direction that the moon is travelling along its orbit around Saturn every 2.7 days.

The dark coating on the trailing hemisphere is thought to be due to radiation from Saturn’s magnetosphere, which causes organic elements in the moon’s surface to become darker and redder in appearance.

The wispy white streaks that wind through the coloured surface are bright ice cliffs – some several hundred metres high – resulting from tectonic fractures.

Meanwhile the leading hemisphere has been painted with icy dust from Saturn’s E-ring, which itself is fed by tiny particles ejected from nearby moon Enceladus.

While Enceladus continuously spews gas and icy particles into space from fractures near its south pole. Dione appears to be quiet at present, but its fractured surface certainly points to a more geologically active past.

Indeed, a recent theoretical modelling study by independent researchers suggest that there could be an underground ocean surrounding the moon’s rocky core, buried some 100 km beneath its battered shell.

This global mosaic was first released in 2014. The image resolution is 250 m per pixel.

The Cassini–Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency. The mission launched in 1997, and arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, with the Huygens probe landing on Titan in January 2005. In September of this year, the Cassini spacecraft will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere to conclude its incredible mission.
Id 371526

Details

RELATED IMAGES 17 December 2004 Dione and Saturn436 Votes: 7 a vuelo 25 November 2004 Dione's criss-crossing streaks423 Votes: 3 Space Science image of the week archive Space science image gallery Follow us ESA Space Science Image of
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/01/Global_colour_mosaic_of_Dione

ESA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo,com
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miércoles, 4 de enero de 2017

NASA : Send in the Clouds .- Enviar en las nubes............del Titán.....

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/send-in-the-clouds

Floating high above the hydrocarbon lakes, wispy clouds have finally started to return to Titan's northern latitudes.

Clouds like these disappeared from Titan's (3,200 miles or 5,150 kilometers across) northern reaches for several years (from about 2010 to 2014). Now they have returned, but in far smaller numbers than expected. Since clouds can quickly appear and disappear, Cassini scientists regularly monitor the large moon, in the hopes of observing cloud activity. They are especially interested in comparing these observations to predictions of how cloud cover should change with Saturn’s seasons. Titan’s clear skies are not what researchers expected.

See PIA18421 for more on the disappearance and return of the clouds. For a movie of the clouds in motion, see PIA21051.

This view looks toward the Saturn-facing side of Titan. North on Titan is up and rotated 3 degrees to the left. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 29, 2016 using a spectral filter that preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 938 nanometers.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 545,000 miles (878,000 kilometers) from Titan. Image scale is 3 miles (5 kilometers) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit

and

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Last Updated: Jan. 3, 2017

Editor: Tony Greicius

Tags: Cassini, Image of the Day, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Moons, Saturn, Solar System, Titan,

NASA

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/basking-in-light

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domingo, 1 de enero de 2017

NASA : Basking in Light .- Tomando la luz de El Sol

Disfrutando del Sol en el Polo Norte de Saturno

29.12.16.-

La luz del Sol realmente ha llegado al polo norte de Saturno. Toda la región septentrional está bañada por la luz solar en esta imagen de finales de 2016.

La corriente en chorro en forma de hexágono está totalmente iluminada aquí. En esta imagen el planeta aparece más oscuro en las regiones donde la cubierta de nubes es más baja, tal y como la región interior del hexágono. Los expertos de la misión dedicados a la atmósfera de Saturno están aprovechando la temporada y la geometría favorable de Cassini para estudiar éste y otros patrones climáticos mientras que el hemisferio norte de Saturno se acerca al solsticio de verano.

Esta imagen mira hacia el lado iluminado por el sol de los anillos desde unos 51 grados sobre el plano de los anillo. La imagen fue tomada con la cámara gran angular de Cassini el 9 de septiembre de 2016 usando un filtro espectral que admite preferentemente longitudes de onda de luz infrarroja centrada a 728 nanómetros.

La imagen fue obtenida a una distancia de aproximadamente 1.2 millones de kilómetros de Saturno. La escala de la imagen es de 74 kilómetros por píxel.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

View of Saturn's north with hexagon shape visible

Sunlight truly has come to Saturn's north pole. The whole northern region is bathed in sunlight in this view from late 2016, feeble though the light may be at Saturn's distant domain in the solar system.

The hexagon-shaped jet-stream is fully illuminated here. In this image, the planet appears darker in regions where the cloud deck is lower, such the region interior to the hexagon. Mission experts on Saturn's atmosphere are taking advantage of the season and Cassini’s favorable viewing geometry to study this and other weather patterns as Saturn's northern hemisphere approaches Summer solstice.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 51 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Sept. 9, 2016 using a spectral filter which preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 728 nanometers.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 750,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 46 miles (74 kilometers) per pixel.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

and

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20512/chaos-at-hyperion

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Last Updated: Dec. 28, 2016

Editor: Sarah Loff

Tags: Cassini, Image of the Day, Saturn, Solar System,

NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui a velo
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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jueves, 8 de diciembre de 2016

NASA : Chaos at Hyperion .- Caos en satélite Hyperion de Saturno

The moon Hyperion tumbles as it orbits Saturn. Hyperion's (168 miles or 270 kilometers across) spin axis has a chaotic orientation in time, meaning that it is essentially impossible to predict how the moon will be spinning in the future. So far, scientists only know of a few bodies with such chaotic spins.

The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 22, 2016.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 203,000 miles (326,000 kilometers) from Hyperion and at a Sun-Hyperion-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 10 degrees. Image scale is 1 mile (2 kilometers) per pixel.

The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of ESA (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. 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, Colorado.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit

and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.

The Cassini imaging team homepage is at