Looking ahead article is up!

http://ciclops.org/view/5684/Rev113

I've been looking forward to the acquisition of SAR of Ontario Lacus in the flyby after this one, but it seems there's to be a preview of part of it this time:

QUOTE: . . RADAR will observe in this swath include two pairs of dark, crisscrossing lineaments named Bacab Virgae and Perkunas Virgae; an east-west dark lineament in Titan's southern mid-latitude terrain named Hobal Virga; and the northwest portion of Ontario Lacus

QUOTE: . . RADAR will observe in this swath include two pairs of dark, crisscrossing lineaments named Bacab Virgae and Perkunas Virgae; an east-west dark lineament in Titan's southern mid-latitude terrain named Hobal Virga; and the northwest portion of Ontario Lacus
[/quote]

Yes it sounds like some interesting structures will be imaged during T 57. Based on 'Looking Ahead' I've tried to approximate the SAR radar swath in the animation below.

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T57 Mission description now available:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/files/20090622_...escription1.pdf

Long time no do this so...

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June 19, narrow-angle RGB shot. I think it's looking down at the north pole. There's a slightly different "feel" to the terminator at roughly 10 to 2 o'clock, possibly due to the polar hood there.

Please do it more! That is a very beautiful image. What a wonderful world.

Gorgeous. Saved amongst my desktop images.

That...is...breathtaking! Wow!

Exquisite.

Craig

Every time I think "That's the best image he's ever made", BANG, you go and post a better one.

Truly beautiful, thanks.

Thanks. The reason it looks different than other images of Titan is because I modeled it after a gamma-correct calibrated image (the one on the left here), something not often produced by either the official imaging team or me - most of those are actually contrast-enhanced. The reason why that is so is, as you can see, the colors are much softer and contrast lower (which people tend not to like), but in this case it really brings out the faint haze layers.

Plus, it looks closer to what it would actually look to the eye. I can't wait to redo this with proper, calibrated data!

Flyby images are up. A really nice shot of S Senkyo basin. (N is down towards the lower left)

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...1/N00138038.jpg

That sure is a really dark splot down there!

-Mike

[Oh hey, wait, there's some subtle clouds or sl. bright linear features at upper right]
[EDIT: Actually, I'm not sure that is located where I originally thought.....]

Here it is (and it was where I thought). Features kinda need to be mentally warped to match the equatorially projected Titan map.

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-Mike

Clouds have been seen near here before during the T55 flyby: http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=140906

For the fun of it, a GIF fade from a visible light image to an enhanced methane absorption/continuum band/blue, June 23rd:

Very nice images all. Seems there's still no definite answer even from the latest images on the possible mountain range included in the NAC image N00138037.
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That is great, thank you

Titan images just following T57 flyby (taken 6/25/09) provide one with an opportunity to have fun with filters. I have stacked images made at roughly the same distance from Titan but with a filter sequence (CL1 CB3, CL1 MT3, CL1 MT2 and CL1 UV3) that shows surface then progressively higher layers of atmosphere. The CL1 MT3 image is remarkable for showing relative brightness of the northern hemisphere and the CL1 UV3 photo the detached haze layer and polar hood.
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It’s interesting to compare these images with Voyager 2 images taken in Aug of 1981 (only 2 years more into southern summer) (below), which show north polar, detached haze and hemispheric atmospheric opacity differences. Different imaging techniques (especially filters) for Voyager probably preclude direct comparative analysis regarding atmospheric composition or density then compared to now. Cassini images are all rotated so north is up and are slightly colorized.

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Yes, this encounter was a real nice one - we got both a juicy narrow-angle crescent shot on the way in and a fat, very low phase shot on the way out, in visible color filters. Normally we only get more inferior wide-angle context shots.

The VIMS vis half might be able to reproduce the old Voyager filters, but the imaging would be at a lot lower resolution than ISS for the same sequence of course . . .

- Jason

South Polar Basin on Titan

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12111

[quote name='belleraphon1' date='Jul 16 2009, 02:13 PM' post='143362']
South Polar Basin on Titan
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12111

Fascinating!! Based on the Photojournal image description (centered at 213 W and 76.5 S and 190 km by 140 km) I've roughly placed this new image on the S polar map. The animation below shows this new SAR image and the location of other interesting past imaging in the region. It appears the T 39 swath (a fantastic SAR with its own modified basins) just misses the new SAR region.
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Full T39 swath here: http://pirlwww.lpl.arizona.edu/~perry/RADA...T039S01_V02.jpg

... and T57 RADAR swath.
Click to view attachment

Yes, the newest batch of data has been released to the PDS. Below is what is probably my favorite (visible color, low phase) global view of Titan yet:



A classic image of Titan showing an orb of nothing but orange smog and blue limb haze.

Wow the polar portion of that fantastic T57 RADAR swath! Not only does it contain the South Polar Basin featured in PIA 12111 but look at that NW corner of Ontario Lacus and the contrast between the dark, deep lake and the bright jumbled highlands along the shore.
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