JPL: Cassini Doubleheader: Flying By Titan and Dione

[bystander]

Cassini Doubleheader: Flying By Titan and Dione
NASA JPL Cassini 2010-110 - 2010 April 02

In a special double flyby early next week, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will visit Saturn's moons Titan and Dione within a period of about a day and a half, with no maneuvers in between. A fortuitous cosmic alignment allows Cassini to attempt this doubleheader, and the interest in swinging by Dione influenced the design of its extended mission.

The Titan flyby, planned for Monday, April 5, will take Cassini to within about 7,500 kilometers (4,700 miles) of the moon's surface. The distance is relatively long as far as encounters go, but it works to the advantage of Cassini's imaging science subsystem. Cassini's cameras will be able to stare at Titan's haze-shrouded surface for a longer time and capture high-resolution pictures of the Belet and Senkyo areas, dark regions around the equator that ripple with sand dunes.

In the early morning of Wednesday, April 7 in UTC time zones, which is around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, April 6 in California, Cassini will make its closest approach to the medium-sized icy moon Dione. Cassini will plunge to within about 500 kilometers (300 miles) of Dione's surface.

PIA09034: Exposing Titan's Surface

PIA12553: Wispy Marble (Dione)

PIA11463: Two Moons, One Picture (Titan and Dione)

(NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/Space Science Institute)

[bystander]

Cassini Finishes Saturnian Doubleheader
NASA JPL Cassini 2010-124 - 2010 Apr 12

NASA's Cassini spacecraft completed its double flyby this week, swinging by Saturn's moons Titan and Dione with no maneuver in between. The spacecraft has beamed back stunning raw images of fractured terrain and craters big and small on Dione, a moon that had only been visited once before by Cassini.

The Titan flyby took place April 5, and the Dione flyby took place April 7 in the UTC time zone, and April 6 Pacific time. During the Titan flyby, an unexpected autonomous reset occurred and Cassini obtained fewer images of Titan than expected. But the cameras were reset before reaching Dione, which was the primary target on this double flyby.

Titan Flyby (T-67) - April 5, 2010
Titan Image Gallery

Dione Flyby (D-2) - April 7, 2010
Dione Image Gallery

[bystander]

Dione and Titan


Dione passes in front of Titan in this Cassini color composite from April 10, 2010. Dione's icy surface
is considerably more reflective than Titan's smoggy atmosphere. (NASA / JPL / Emily Lakdawalla)

[owlice]

That is stunning.

[bystander]

Titan and Dione: The same, but different
Universe Today - 22 April 2010


Titan and Dione (NASA / JPL / SSI / color composite by Emily Lakdawalla)