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This raw, unprocessed image of Hyperion was taken on August 25, 2011 and received on Earth August 26, 2011. The camera was pointing toward Hyperion at approximately 26293 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and IR1 filters. The image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the Planetary Data System in 2012.
The Cassini Solstice Mission is a joint United States and European endeavor. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini Solstice Mission visit http://ciclops.org, http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Released: August 26, 2011
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Love the fact that you guys are putting up the "fresh" data! Reminds me of the Voyager flyby (when both Dr. Porco and I were at Caltech) and the JPL folks had a near live feed of the images coming in piped on to the big screen in Beckman Auditorium. In contrast, the folks running the Dawn mission are being pretty stingy with the data. Maybe you could send them a message about how it _should_ be done.
It IS a sponge - loaded with frozen dishwater. That was my claim back in '05 and I'm sticking to it.
To me, the lighter parts are rather reminiscent of what we Brits refer to as 'buttered crumpet' (see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crumpet). The darker parts are like an extremely airy chocolate mousse! John: 'love' seems too strong an emotion for me in relation to a frigid lump of tumbling dirty slush, but I definitely regard this as the Solar System's most mouth-watering natural satellite! Despite the huge number of impacts, the surface around the craters seems surprisingly smooth (almost clay-like in the darker regions). Hence my comparison with chocolate. And the surface material is clearly of low density. Ciclops boffins: What are the current theories on the origin and composition of this tasty little morsel?
I love this little moon and this image shows you why!!
Take a look at those amazing craters and try and spot a bit of "flat land". My favourite object in the Solar System shows beautifully in this image why it is so fascinating. Does anyone else think that this moon resembles a sponge in appearance? Great, great image!
John.
