Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Posters | ScienceViews | Science Fiction Timelines |

PHOTO INDEX OF
PRIMARY TARGETS
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
EARTH
JUPITER
KUIPER BELT
MARS
MERCURY
METEORITES
NEPTUNE
OORT CLOUD
PLUTO
SATURN
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SUN
URANUS
VENUS
ORDER PRINTS

OTHER PHOTO INDEXES
ALL TARGETS
PHOTO CATEGORIES

SCIENCEVIEWS
AMERICAN INDIAN
AMPHIBIANS
BIRDS
BUGS
FINE ART
FOSSILS
THE ISLANDS
HISTORICAL PHOTOS
MAMMALS
OTHER
PARKS
PLANTS
RELIGIOUS
REPTILES
SCIENCEVIEWS PRINTS

Phoebe's Radiation

Target Name:  Phoebe
Spacecraft:  Cassini Orbiter
Instrument:  Composite Infrared Spectrometer
Produced by:  NASA/JPL/Goddard Space Flight Center
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Cross Reference:  PIA06402
Date Taken:  11 June 2004

Related Documents
Download Options

NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
PIA06402.jpgJPEG720 x 54048K
PIA06402.tifTIFF720 x 540221.5 kB

This image shows thermal radiation from the day and night sides of Saturn's moon Phoebe, taken by the composite infrared spectrometer onboard Cassini 1.8 hours before the spacecraft's closest approach to Phoebe on June 11, 2004. The left-hand panel displays the image in grayscale format, showing the brightness of Phoebe's radiation in the wavelength range 15-17 microns, which is about 25 times the longest wavelength visible to the naked eye. In the middle panel this brightness is used to estimate the surface temperature distribution across Phoebe. Temperatures are given in degrees Kelvin, and vary from a relatively toasty 107 Kelvin (-267 Fahrenheit), in the late morning near the equator (white, lower right), to less than 75 Kelvin (-324 Fahrenheit) in the northern hemisphere in the pre-dawn hours (dark blue, upper left). The "ragged edge" of Phoebe in this region is an instrumental artifact.

Temperatures are affected strongly by topography, as can be seen by comparison with the visible-wavelength image (right). Some of the coldest temperatures are found in the shadowed region inside the large depression in the northern hemisphere (upper right).

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.