January 15th 05, 12:03 AM
Cassini Significant Events
for 01/06/04 - 01/12/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, January 12. The Cassini spacecraft is in
an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. As of yesterday
(December 16), the Program is 8 days from Probe release and 29 days
from
Probe relay. Information on the present position and speed of the
Cassini
spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm .
As of today, January 13, the Program is hours from Probe relay!
Coming Up:
The Saturn Observation Campaign/Old Town Astronomers will be showing
Saturn
this weekend. Telescopes will be set up from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on
Colorado
Blvd in Pasadena (somewhere near DeLacey, depending on parking) Friday
night, and in Monrovia's Library Park on the corner of Myrtle and Lime
Streets on Saturday night and probably one place or the other again on
Sunday night. These events draw a big crowd with long lines in
Pasadena,
but the Monrovia park setting is less hectic, and nicer for extended
looks.
Bring the whole family for a view of Saturn and many of its moons
during one
of these viewing opportunities. Disclaimer: weather permitting, so
the
viewing will be cancelled if it's cloudy or worse.
European Space Agency press conferences will be aired on NASA Select
from
8:15 to 9:15am Pacific Time and from 2:00 to 3:00pm Pacific time on
Friday
January 14.
Not to be eclipsed by the Huygens Probe, check out the Cassini web site
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov for the latest press releases and images of
Saturn's moon Iapetus. Images show startling surface features that are
fueling heated scientific discussions about their origin. One of these
features is a long narrow ridge that lies almost exactly on the equator
of
Iapetus, bisects its entire dark hemisphere and reaches 20 km high and
extends over 1300 km. No other moon in the solar system has such a
striking
geological feature. In places, the ridge is comprised of mountains. In
height, they rival Olympus Mons on Mars, approximately three times the
height of Mt. Everest, which is surprising for such a small body as
Iapetus.
Mars is nearly five times the size of Iapetus.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the
Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington,
D.C. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.
for 01/06/04 - 01/12/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, January 12. The Cassini spacecraft is in
an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. As of yesterday
(December 16), the Program is 8 days from Probe release and 29 days
from
Probe relay. Information on the present position and speed of the
Cassini
spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located at
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm .
As of today, January 13, the Program is hours from Probe relay!
Coming Up:
The Saturn Observation Campaign/Old Town Astronomers will be showing
Saturn
this weekend. Telescopes will be set up from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on
Colorado
Blvd in Pasadena (somewhere near DeLacey, depending on parking) Friday
night, and in Monrovia's Library Park on the corner of Myrtle and Lime
Streets on Saturday night and probably one place or the other again on
Sunday night. These events draw a big crowd with long lines in
Pasadena,
but the Monrovia park setting is less hectic, and nicer for extended
looks.
Bring the whole family for a view of Saturn and many of its moons
during one
of these viewing opportunities. Disclaimer: weather permitting, so
the
viewing will be cancelled if it's cloudy or worse.
European Space Agency press conferences will be aired on NASA Select
from
8:15 to 9:15am Pacific Time and from 2:00 to 3:00pm Pacific time on
Friday
January 14.
Not to be eclipsed by the Huygens Probe, check out the Cassini web site
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov for the latest press releases and images of
Saturn's moon Iapetus. Images show startling surface features that are
fueling heated scientific discussions about their origin. One of these
features is a long narrow ridge that lies almost exactly on the equator
of
Iapetus, bisects its entire dark hemisphere and reaches 20 km high and
extends over 1300 km. No other moon in the solar system has such a
striking
geological feature. In places, the ridge is comprised of mountains. In
height, they rival Olympus Mons on Mars, approximately three times the
height of Mt. Everest, which is surprising for such a small body as
Iapetus.
Mars is nearly five times the size of Iapetus.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European
Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a
division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages
the
Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington,
D.C. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.