[meteorite-list] Cassini Images: Helen's Close-Up

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Oct 1 23:55:35 2006
Message-ID: <200610020355.UAA23113_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/cassini/060930helene.html

Helene's close-up
CASSINI PHOTO RELEASE
September 30, 2006

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Download larger image version here
<http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpeg/PIA08269.jpg>
 
This set of images exposes details on small and crumpled-looking Helene.
Large portions of this Trojan moon of Dione appear to have been blasted
away by impacts.

Cassini passed within 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) of Helene (32
kilometers, or 20 miles across) when these images were acquired. The
views were obtained over the course of an hour, and are presented here
in reverse order (i.e., the leftmost image was taken latest).

The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft
narrow-angle camera. As presented here, the views were acquired at
distances ranging from 62,000 to 51,000 kilometers (39,000 to 32,000
miles) from Helene and at a Sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of
111 to 120 degrees. Image scale is 375 to 300 meters (1,230 to 984 feet)
per pixel, from left to right.

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 mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were
designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center
is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
Received on Sun 01 Oct 2006 11:55:31 PM PDT