Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Eclipse of Rhea

Unmanned Spaceflight.com > Outer Solar System > Saturn > Cassini Huygens > Cassini's ongoing mission and raw images

Vultur

Oct 12 2009, 05:55 AM

According to the Looking Ahead website:

QUOTE (CICLOPS Looking Ahead)

Rhea will be observed twice on October 13 [...] The first observation of this encounter will be conducted by CIRS and ISS while the satellite is in the shadow of Saturn. This observation is designed to study temperature changes on the satellite as a result of the eclipse

What can the science team determine about Rhea from the temperature changes while it's in eclipse?

remcook

Oct 12 2009, 07:07 AM

You can see how quickly the surface cools after putting out the light. This will tell you about thermal interia of the surface, which is dependent on things like looseness of the surface and composition.

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