Astronomy Picture of the Day - 2017 July 28 - Noodle Mosaic of Saturn
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2017 July 28
Noodle Mosaic of Saturn
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Hampton University
Explanation:
On April 26 the Cassini spacecraft swooped toward Saturn on the first of its Grand Finale dives between Saturn and rings.
In this long, thin, noodle mosaic, a rapid series of 137 low resolution images captured by Cassini's wide-angle camera track its progress across the gas giant's swirling cloud tops.
The mosaic projection maps the arc
along Saturn's atmospheric curve on to a flat image plane. At top, the first mosaic panel is centered at 90 degrees north, about 72,400 kilometers above Saturn's dark north polar vortex.
As the mosaic progresses it narrows, the pixel scale shrinking from 8.7 kilometers to 1 kilometer per pixel.
For the last panel, the spacecraft is 8,374 kilometers above a region 18 degrees north of Saturn's equator. Frame orientation changes near the bottom as Cassini rotates to maneuver its large, dish-shaped, high-gain antenna forward, providing a shield before crossing Saturn's ring plane.
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