I was just browsing, and here they are!

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/view.php?id=183

Although still distant, they are already better than the Voayager 2 views from 1981.

New Phoebe images at JPL website now:

OH MY 10X better to come as well

Doug

Well, I like the pictures made by Voyager 2 better ...






*JUST KIDDING*!

These new ones are marvellous!

Tom

Is that really a crater?

Tom

Look at this one!

I love these pictures! What a great way to end a day.

Tom

Here is another Phoebe image:

And another. This one seems to be from very close range.

WOW!


BTW, where did you find these? Right now they are neither here

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/

nor here

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/

or here

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/



Tom

I noticed when looking at the CICLOPS Imaging Diary site that the most recent released images had the addresses:

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/190_200_1.jpg (Battered Moon)
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/191_201_1.gif (Phoebe Rotation Movie)
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/191_202_1.jpg (Phoebe Rotation Movie - Still Image)
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/193_203_1.jpg (Crater Close-up on Phoebe)
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/196_206_1.jpg (Phoebe's Surprise)
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/197_207_1.jpg (The Face of Phoebe)

And I tried a few other plausible addresses. When I looked, the following images were online:

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/194_204_1.jpg
http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/195_205_1.jpg

Oh, I see. Thanks for sharing.

Tom

Some more mosaics are in:

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/198_215_1.jpg (a mosaic of two images)

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/media/ir/2004/199_212_1.jpg (a very large mosaic of seven images. Warning--2.3 MB in size)

So does Cassini have stereo imaging capability?

Not in the same way as an MER - BUT - by taking images from two places, you can generate stereo imagery - i.e. before, and after closest approach to a moon.

Analogy = instead of using two eye to make it - use one eye, and move your whole head.

Doug

I've seen that technique used a lot on the Mars orbiter photos with some stunning results but I had wished the true real time stereo would be on this mission similar to what we're seeing with Mars Express. Sometimes on the Mars orbiters you have to wait months until the orbiter flies back over the same spot for the second "eye" picture. Then there's the whole question of similar lighting conditions, changes due to weather, etc. How much is a second digital camera for Christsakes. lol

We did that with Galileo imagery. We would take one image of a mountain on Io one orbit, that take another image the next orbit to create a crude stereo image.

BTW, the huge 2.3 MB mosaic was created by yours truly. As people here who are on other forums I am on, you can tell I am quite proud of it. Still can't wait till T0

That is so cool! Can you tell us more about what is coming up with Phoebe images? You must have seen many more images (and mosaics) than have been publicly released...

Bill

volcanopele:

Oustanding mosaic!

If you have a moment, I just had a question regarding the release of Cassini images. The MER project is constantly releasing their raw images to the public. As a space-exploration-loving-person, I can say that it is a dream come true! In a way, it reminds me of the late Dr. Carl Sagan's cosmos episode "Blues for the Red Planet" where he describes eventual Mars rover missions. He says something along the lines of "...imagine everyone tuning in to see the latest pictures..." I remember as a child having to wait for the latest issue of Astronomy magazine or the National Geographic to follow the Voyager missions.

I just wonder why nothing similar has been done with the Cassini project. I mean, it's nice to see an image every day, or several in the case of the Phoebe flyby. But why is there no (near) real time uploading of the raw images as there is with MER?

Thanks for reading,

Kelly

Right - how do I get your job? Seriously? It's what I've always wanted to do (And am doing at an amateur level with MER imagery)

Doug

There aren't that many Phoebe ISS images left. There is a 65-90 m/pixel mosaic that is in preparation and might be released in the next week or so (one of the frames requires extra processing due to the mode it was obtained in). there is also the highest res image (12.3 m/pixel) that I prepared for release but I think that is in limbo (it wasn't in the mosaic because of the distance between the last frame and the 12.3 m/pixel frame). I also think there are some color images that are in preparation but again, many of the color frames were taken in modes that require "unwrapping", a mode that "wraps" the DN values to restrict saturation.

However, VIMS and CIRS (and I guess radar) also took data during the flyby so hopefully they will release stuff soon. There are some quick VIMS frames that might be released today and I have seen CIRS data so maybe they will release soon.

There is near real-time loading of images for me.. Seriously, I don't really know. This was the way it was done with Galileo, to have a proprietary period with the data before releasing them, but I agree, I don't understand why they just don't release the JPEG versions like MER with the caveat posted that these are not for scientific usages. However, newer missions, like MER and MRO (with HiRISE) will start using the model of releasing data almost as soon as the scientists see them in order to help maintain interest.

Half the reason that HiRise will get dumped out to the public so rapidly is that there are not enough scientists on the planet to analize the sheer volume of data it's going to create

Seriously though...

MER and HiRise have and will set the right example. Whack out the quick-and-dirty imagery on a frame by frame basis and push it out to the public on an almost realtime basis - it's of little real scientific value as it's not properly calibrated, etc etc.

Then - after the usual embargo (6 months for MER) release correct data sets via the PDS to the scientific community and the very-keen public.

It's probably far FAR too late for Cassini to impliment anything like that, but the sheer quantity of imagery that we'll be getting from Cassini over the next half-decade or so warrants the effort to allow the public to generate some interesting eye-candy (as has been done time and time again with MER, and I did with NEAR some years ago ) and the public interest that results from that can only help in the search for more funds at Capital HIll

It would be an excellent move for Nasa to stipulate some sort of similar methadology on all missions. Look at MODIS on Terra and Aqua - daily data pushed out usually within 6 - 12 hrs. Ditto with SOHO.

It's almost as if the BIG missions ( Galileo, Cassini ) are 'too important' to allow the public to see the raw imagery as it comes down Then again, at 120bps, Galileo was hardly a waterfall of pretty pictures

Doug

I second that - they need to feed the public, that's where the money comes from Also, the release schedule of images by ESA for Mars Express is absolutely pathetic. They are taking some stunning images (at least I hope they are) and all they have released is just a handful of heavily processed postcards.

As with 3-d imagery, please correct me if I'm wrong, but it's one thing having a stereo camera on MER taking 3d images of the landscape, but it's quite another thing having a stereo camera in orbit. The eye separation in MER is close to human eyes so images are in a correct perspective. If you put a stereo camera in orbit, the surface is so damn far away that you wouldn't able to make out any perspective differences between the left and right eye images.

So you need the eye separation to be something like many meters (or many hundreds of meters) to create the correct perspective, which is impossible to do in any way other than take two delayed snapshots using the same camera. In other words, a stereo camera for orbital images would be useless unless it's very very big.

Thats how the MEX one works - one stereo channel is forward looking, one is backward looking.

The backward looking one will see the same bit of surface as the forward looking one a short while ( and many km's ) after it. i.e....


F -> R
\ /
\ /
\ /


Doug

If its a case of not having the manpower or resources to release many more images, maybe they need someone from the piblic to come in voluntarily and do it.

I nominate myself for the job hehe

I think JPL or NASA itself should implement some kind of centralized standard that applies to all of their missions. Such a setup could even be cost effective, as it removes the burdon of coming up with a release method from individual missions.

All an individual mission has to do then is to "plug in" to the centralized system that houses all raw data. One would think they already have the means to ship the raw data to any of the PIs for a mission. All they need to do is add an extra destination!

Don't they already have something similar to that, ie, the PDS Imaging Node?

*Sigh* The idea probably makes too much sense to implement, however.

That being said, I'm glad we get the releases that we *do* get.

cheers everyone,

Kelly

Doug, what did you do for the NEAR project? Do you have a site? I followed NEAR closely, it was amazing to think we had a craft at an asteroid. Did you note the similarity between EROS and PHOEBE? The boulders and the craters in some of the higher res shots of Phoebe looked alot like the Eros images.

If you have processed data for NEAR I'd love to see it.

Eric P / MizarKey

I think this article is about him:

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/missi...ics_010228.html

(@ Doug: When I joined this board I wanted to find out who runs it.)

Tom

Thats me Although now it's Ellison, 25.... And if I even pull together a book on MER it'll be Ellison, 43.

Dig deep enough at http://near.jhuapl.edu you can find all the raw images from the cam onbaord NEAR - and using NASA view I dumped out some BMP's and stitched in Photoshop. It seemed like NASA wasnt making the most of some amazing images, so I thought I'd have a bit of a play.


Doug (72)

VolcanoPele: about T0... are you going to do the ISS images again? Do you expect to see some features or just an orange haze? Or are you going to make use of the methane band (1.4 micron?). I know VIMS can do these kind of things, but ISS...

You get to see all the images? lucky you.

What's the point in spending $3.3 Billion on a spacecraft that is only going to satisfy the curiosity of a few dozen very lucky scientists on the imaging team? I want to see all of the images - certainly many more than what they're currently releasing anyway.

Sure there's the PDS archive, but data isn't available there for quite some time, and that site is hardly geared to the non-scientist.

Browsing the internet and forums, i've certainly noticed a lot of frustration and grumbling at the lack of images, and its getting louder. I hope NASA are listening.

I blame the MERs. I think the frequent 'raw' image releases gave the interested public unrealistic expectations. This may have been a mistake.

Now we can never be satiated!

Haha...

You may be right, in the short term at least... In the long term though, the MER project is a fine example of how all missions should release their data/images.

That's the hope. We are seeing the surface at 46 km/pixel but the question come down to at what point does the haze scattering become an issue where effectively you can't see any smaller features. we still haven't reached that point but is it somewhere between 92 and 4 km? We will find out next Friday. The images I have been working with are through a continuum band filter at 940 nm and a polarized filter. 940 nm cooresponds to a methane window.

oh, and I will be preparing a mosaic from the T0 images along with a map of Titan at 35-88 km/pixel.