NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images Saturn

2021-12-29 18:43:13 By : Ms. wendy zhou

Click here to sign in with or

by Nancy Neal Jones, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

From a viewpoint about 90 kilometers (56 miles) above Lacus Veris, "Lake of Spring," the camera aboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft imaged Saturn on October 13, 2021. In this view, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) was looking down at the north face of the rings, and from this perspective the rings in front of Saturn appear below its equator.

The LROC Narrow Angle Cameras (NAC) are line scan cameras, which presents a challenge for imaging anything besides the Moon. This is because they were designed to acquire images by taking advantage of the motion of the spacecraft above the surface⁠—LRO travels over 1,600 meters per second (1 mile per second) above the Moon⁠—to build up an image one line at a time, with very short exposure times. To image Saturn, the spacecraft slews the NAC across Saturn, building up the image by mimicking our orbital ground motion. The slew across Saturn was achieved by pointing the NACs on one side of Saturn and then targeting the other side. LRO responded to the updated target by slewing to it at a specific rate across the planet. This rate is programed to optimize LRO stability and speed and resulted in a NAC exposure time of 3.82 milli-seconds. Since Saturn is much dimmer than the Moon (and Jupiter) and the exposure time is in effect set by the slew speed, we cannot detect the Saturnian moons as we did with the Galilean moons; they are just too dim.

Fortunately, the NACs can image the amazing rings of Saturn, which are likely only 10 to 100 million years old, 10 meters thick, and are comprised almost entirely of water ice. The major rings visible here have a diameter of 270,000 km (168,000 miles), about 70% of the average distance between the Earth and the Moon.

LRO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Launched on June 18, 2009, LRO has collected a treasure trove of data with its seven powerful instruments, making an invaluable contribution to our knowledge about the Moon. NASA is returning to the Moon with commercial and international partners to expand human presence in space and bring back new knowledge and opportunities. Explore further Image: Veil of ice in Saturn's rings Provided by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Citation: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images Saturn (2021, November 23) retrieved 29 December 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-11-nasa-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-images.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

More from Other Physics Topics

Use this form if you have come across a typo, inaccuracy or would like to send an edit request for the content on this page. For general inquiries, please use our contact form. For general feedback, use the public comments section below (please adhere to guidelines).

Please select the most appropriate category to facilitate processing of your request

Thank you for taking time to provide your feedback to the editors.

Your feedback is important to us. However, we do not guarantee individual replies due to the high volume of messages.

Your email address is used only to let the recipient know who sent the email. Neither your address nor the recipient's address will be used for any other purpose. The information you enter will appear in your e-mail message and is not retained by Phys.org in any form.

Get weekly and/or daily updates delivered to your inbox. You can unsubscribe at any time and we'll never share your details to third parties.

Medical research advances and health news

The latest engineering, electronics and technology advances

The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web

This site uses cookies to assist with navigation, analyse your use of our services, collect data for ads personalisation and provide content from third parties. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.