[meteorite-list] Cassini Closes in on Saturn's Tumbling Moon Hyperion

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 18:10:47 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201108270110.p7R1AlGa021620_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-266

Cassini Closes in on Saturn's Tumbling Moon Hyperion
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
August 26, 2011

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured new views of Saturn's oddly shaped
moon Hyperion during its encounter with this cratered body on Thursday,
Aug. 25. Raw images were acquired as the spacecraft flew past the moon
at a distance of about 15,500 miles (25,000 kilometers), making this the
second closest encounter.

Hyperion is a small moon -- just 168 miles (270 kilometers) across. It
has an irregular shape and surface appearance, and it rotates
chaotically as it tumbles along in orbit. This odd rotation prevented
scientists from predicting exactly what terrain the spacecraft's cameras
would image during this flyby.

However, this flyby's closeness has likely allowed Cassini's cameras to
map new territory. At the very least, it will help scientists improve
color measurements of the moon. It will also help them determine how the
moon's brightness changes as lighting and viewing conditions change,
which can provide insight into the texture of the surface. The color
measurements provide additional information about different materials on
the moon's deeply pitted surface.

The latest raw images of Hyperion are online at:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/ .

Cassini's closest encounter with Hyperion was on September 26, 2005,
when the spacecraft flew approximately 310 miles (500 kilometers) above
the moon's surface.
Cassini's next flyby of Hyperion will be on Sept. 16, 2011, when it
passes the tumbling moon at a distance of about 36,000 miles (58,000
kilometers).

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. 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.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit
http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Rosemary Sullivant 818-354-0850
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Rosemary.sullivant at jpl.nasa.gov

2011-266
Received on Fri 26 Aug 2011 09:10:47 PM PDT