Comments on: An Early Look http://wanderingspace.net/2008/03/an-early-look/ Imaging the bodies of our Solar Sysytem Thu, 17 May 2012 15:22:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: thomas http://wanderingspace.net/2008/03/an-early-look/#comment-1538 thomas Thu, 13 Mar 2008 20:02:34 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=721#comment-1538 i do like the photo-ops… but this pass is easily as exciting for data purposes. i think everyone wants to know exactly what that stuff is! i do like the photo-ops… but this pass is easily as exciting for data purposes. i think everyone wants to know exactly what that stuff is!

]]> By: Gordan http://wanderingspace.net/2008/03/an-early-look/#comment-1537 Gordan Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:55:16 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=721#comment-1537 This flyby was never designed to be a primarily imaging pass. That should have been obvious from the fact Enceladus entered eclipse just a couple of minutes after closest approach. It was always meant to be a fields-and-particles pass with optical instruments just riding along. While the Cosmic Dust Analyzer apaprently failed to record data, other instruments were active. Notably INMS which analyses the composition of the particles. The CDA would give us a more accurate assessment of how big any many particles there were in specific parts of the plume. There will be another fields and particles pass devoted to Enceladus this year, the other two will be primarily optical remote sensing passes. That is, photo-ops everyone seems to like best. This flyby was never designed to be a primarily imaging pass. That should have been obvious from the fact Enceladus entered eclipse just a couple of minutes after closest approach. It was always meant to be a fields-and-particles pass with optical instruments just riding along.

While the Cosmic Dust Analyzer apaprently failed to record data, other instruments were active. Notably INMS which analyses the composition of the particles. The CDA would give us a more accurate assessment of how big any many particles there were in specific parts of the plume. There will be another fields and particles pass devoted to Enceladus this year, the other two will be primarily optical remote sensing passes. That is, photo-ops everyone seems to like best.

]]> By: thomas http://wanderingspace.net/2008/03/an-early-look/#comment-1536 thomas Thu, 13 Mar 2008 17:04:13 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=721#comment-1536 whaaaaaaat?… that and the “snffing” instrument failed to send data? so does this mean this event is almost a wash? whaaaaaaat?… that and the “snffing” instrument failed to send data? so does this mean this event is almost a wash?

]]> By: Gordan http://wanderingspace.net/2008/03/an-early-look/#comment-1535 Gordan Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:58:55 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=721#comment-1535 Viscous relaxation is the term. This was seen in Voyager images and indicated the ice on Enceladus was warm at least at one point so it could slowly flow, rather than contain the rigid form of craters seen on the other icy sats. P.S. The images you see on the raw pages are pretty much it, not more to come. Imaging was scarce in this pass because spacecraft orientation was optimized for sniffing the plume. The outbound wide angle shots taken in eclipse are pretty much it as far as ISS is concerned. Viscous relaxation is the term. This was seen in Voyager images and indicated the ice on Enceladus was warm at least at one point so it could slowly flow, rather than contain the rigid form of craters seen on the other icy sats.

P.S. The images you see on the raw pages are pretty much it, not more to come. Imaging was scarce in this pass because spacecraft orientation was optimized for sniffing the plume. The outbound wide angle shots taken in eclipse are pretty much it as far as ISS is concerned.

]]> By: Bill http://wanderingspace.net/2008/03/an-early-look/#comment-1534 Bill Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:41:52 +0000 http://wanderingspace.net/?p=721#comment-1534 aren't those craters in the middle weird? what's with that? aren’t those craters in the middle weird? what’s with that?

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