neil and other folks interested in space...

[Mike70]

have you been following what has been going on on enceladus?

cassini has found liquid water geysers there. it has also found serious evidence that there are large amounts of liquid water existing above 0 deg celsius very near the surface (perhaps within a few meters). what is even more intriguing is that organic chemicals have been detected in said water spewing from the surface.

needless to say, cassini's flight plan has been altered and next year on march 12 cassini is going to come within 23 km of the surface-you read that right 23km. right up in its grill.

here are two articles on the subject:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060309_cassini_water.html

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=780
here is the link about the 23km flyby:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moons/moonDetails.cfm?pageID=5

[capncnut]

cassini's flight plan has been altered and next year on march 12 cassini is going to come within 23 km of the surface-you read that right 23km.
Midnight tonight. :sneaky:

I'm really looking forward to seeing the data. It sure is a risky manœuvre to send the orbiter directly through a water plume but it'll be worth it. Just check out the trajectory chart.

Cassini's E3 Trajectory (http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/cassini-20080310.html)

I think there's gonna be a blog update late this evening on the NASA site with results (photos and data) slowly dripping to us over the coming weeks.

Flash overview (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/flash/Enceladus/enceladus.html)

[Publius]

Midnight tonight. :sneaky:


Wow! Thanks for reminding us of this!

[capncnut]

No problemo, Pubes. I got my ass logged into NASA's blog waiting for the initial results and information.

[Neil]

Sweeeeeet :)

Just think if we weren't pi$$ing around building bombers to carry loads of explosives around the globe to drop on other people... Imagine what we could have accomplished over the past 30-40 years! We could of had a probe landing on that sucker!!!

[MaximusIncredulous]

Sweeeeeet :)

Just think if we weren't pi$$ing around building bombers to carry loads of explosives around the globe to drop on other people... Imagine what we could have accomplished over the past 30-40 years! We could of had a probe landing on that sucker!!!

Too bad the people in charge of the cash have their heads shoved up their arses.

[Neil]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7289670.stm

[capncnut]

We got ourselves a nice ol' Hi-Res image of Enceladus' North Pole.

Clicky (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/PIA08409_North_Polar_Region_of_Enceladus.jpg)

The water plumes that eminate from Enceladus are near the south pole (an area dubbed 'The Tiger Stripes') but the path of the spacecraft allowed closer investigation of the north pole. This is a mosaic made from three shots taken on the approach.

I tried to put the picture up but it's absolutely huge! :stunned:

[Danny]

damn thats a good picture, looks like its taken a beating over the years doesnt it?, english was my forte at school, not science but this stuffs still interesting to me, if theres water and heat odds are that there might be life right?, because our whole systems ,at its core, made of the same stuff then its possible that if you can get carbon based microbes living on earth on the edges of volcanic vents at the bottom of the ocean then i dont see why there couldnt be simple life there.


....and then a probes landed and theres a wierd snake people civilasation under the ice. :lol:

[capncnut]

Sure does, it's thanks to these great gas giants that we don't get a constant battering.

As for life, there could be some kind existing anywhere that carries water. Not only that but it also gives scientists an idea of what's actually going on out there and to see such activity on dormant moons will give them insight as to how our planet came to be etc.

It's great that we got an image on the day ol' Arfur kicked the bucket.

I'm really looking forward to the upcoming plume pictures though, if they've captured it on entry and exit like they are suggesting then that's just sheer awesomeness! :thumbsup:

[Mike70]

the only bummer about cassini's close approach was that the instrument that was going to sample the ice particles decided to develop emotional problems for several hours and sent back zero data on what is mixed in the ice.:(


there are a couple more close flybys of enceladus this year. so maybe next time.

[Marie]

Sweeeeeet :)

Just think if we weren't pi$$ing around building bombers to carry loads of explosives around the globe to drop on other people...

Just imagine if those people we're blowing up would let us live our lives without blowing up our people and infrastructure. What we could accomplish!

M_

[capncnut]

the only bummer about cassini's close approach was that the instrument that was going to sample the ice particles decided to develop emotional problems for several hours and sent back zero data on what is mixed in the ice.:(
These things are to be expected and it shouldn't pose too much of a problem for NASA as it is an extremely active region. Better luck next time I guess.