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Blog Archive
Canto II: Titan's Atmosphere and the Solar Cycle
Posted by David Seal on 2009/06/03 04:44 CDT
David Seal explains the complications for Cassini coming from Titan's atmosphere and Solar Cycle.
Posted by David Seal on 2009/06/02 01:58 CDT
David Seal muses on his time as the mission planner for Cassini, and the history behind its name, and astronomy in Rome.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2008/03/25 12:37 CDT
I thought that today's image release from the Cassini imaging team was exceptionally pretty.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2008/02/19 04:40 CST
There was a press release from the Cassini mission today about a pile of papers (14 of them!) being published in the journal Icarus about Saturn's icy moons. I haven't had time to read more than the overview article yet, but I wanted to come up with a graphic for an overview of Saturn's moons, and I couldn't resist delving into the massive database of Cassini images to produce something new
Analyzing the first published Huygens results
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/12/02 03:26 CST
I am working my way steadily through the seven Huygens papers that were released by Nature magazine Wednesday on their "Advance online publication" website.
An update on the Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/11/08 03:28 CST
While I was at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Cambridge in September I had a chance to chat with David Atkinson, who's a member of the Doppler Wind Experiment team on Huygens. They and the other instrument teams have been plugging away at analyzing their data.
A way-cool Cassini picture: rings, Titan, Dione, Prometheus
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/10/19 07:12 CDT
I just noticed this picture on the Cassini raw images website. I love these "many worlds" pictures.
A change of plans for Cassini: higher altitude for the "T7" Titan flyby
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/07/15 01:00 CDT
The June 15 Cassini Project Update includes a note about a difficult decision -- they are raising the altitude of an upcoming Titan flyby, "T7," which is scheduled for September 7.
News: Dark Spot Near the South Pole: A Candidate Lake on Titan?
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/06/28 11:00 CDT
The Cassini imaging team has released an image containing a feature unlike any other that they have seen on Titan. The very dark color, curvaceous outline, and sharp edge of the feature have led them to the conclusion that it could well be the long-theorized but never-before-seen body of liquid hydrocarbons on the surface of Titan.
New Mosaics of Huygens' Titan Images
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/05/05 11:00 CDT
Although the two spacecraft traveled a billion kilometers together to study Titan, Cassini and Huygens are two very different types of missions.
Cassini's Radio Ear on Huygens
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/02/14 10:00 CST
Scientists have released a new sound from Huygens, representing the radio signal that Cassini detected from the little probe as it descended to Titan's surface.
News: Radio Astronomers Rescue Science Results for Huygens' Doppler Wind Experiment
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/02/09 10:00 CST
Earth's radio astronomers have saved the day for one of the Huygens instrument teams. Today, the Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) team announced their first science results, despite losing nearly all of their expected data.
3-D Views of Titan's Surface from Huygens
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/02/08 10:00 CST
It's been close to a month since Huygens descended to the surface of Titan. Many visitors to this website have expressed impatience with the pace of the release of images from the Huygens cameras, a feeling that is no doubt shared by space enthusiasts around the world who are eager to see refined views of the alien surface of Titan.
They Were the First, and the Last, to Hear from Huygens
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/02/07 10:00 CST
On January 14, 2005, the eyes of the world were on the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, where Huygens mission operators were anxiously awaiting news from Huygens. Would the little probe -- a mission built in seventeen countries, more than twenty years in the making -- be a success, or would it prove a repeat of the heartbreaking silence of Beagle 2?
Huygens' Descending View of Titan
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/17 10:00 CST
Scientists from the Huygens Descent Imager Spectral Radiometer (DISR) team have released their first mosaic of images captured during Huygens' descent. The mosaic is composed of 30 images captured by the Medium Resolution Imager of Huygens' Descent Imager Spectral Radiometer while the probe was spinning and descending toward Titan.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/16 10:00 CST
In the 48 hours since Huygens' data first began streaming back to Earth, a few processed images of the channeled landscape and bouldery landing site have been released to the public. Now, the Descent Imager Spectral Radiometer team at the University of Arizona has put all of Huygens' images online for the public to view.
New Images from the Huygens Probe: Shorelines and Channels, But an Apparently Dry Surface
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/15 10:00 CST
This image brought applause from everyone at the European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.
Huygens blog: "A dance party to Titan."
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/15 09:56 CST
Huygens blog: "It's impossible to resist the speculation."
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/15 07:31 CST
After a mere twelve hours of work, all six of the science teams on Huygens were able to report results this morning. You could easily tell the difference between the administrators and the scientists on this morning's press panel: the administrators looked bright, fresh, and well-rested, while the scientists looked decidedly weary.
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2005/01/14 04:10 CST
A frequently updated blog with the tumultuous events of Huygens' landing on Titan.
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