In article ,
Robert Hartwick wrote:
On a related matter, I was expecting to see a few photos at low
altitudes (less than a thousand meters). There was supposed to be a
spotlight to facilitate this. Has anyone seen anything of these?
Were they lost? We seem to go from kilometers high directly to the
'pebbles on the mud'. Disappointing.

The descent animation at
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07234.html
shows images at 2.3 km, 2.1, 1.8, 1.7, 1.5, 1.3, 1.2, 1.0, 800 m, 700 and
500.

They planned to suspend imaging a few hundred meters above the surface,
so that they would have time to transfer the final in-air shots and
other data before a possibly fatal impact.

The lamp was supposed to come on at 400 m, but it's purpose was mainly
for spectroscopy.

The Descent Imager Spectral Radiometer Aboard Huygens is a good read:
http://www.rssd.esa.int/SB/HUYGENS/docs/SP1177/tomask_1.pdf
--
Hud Nordin Silicon Valley