{"id":9346,"date":"2015-06-01T14:20:59","date_gmt":"2015-06-01T18:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/?p=9346"},"modified":"2015-06-01T14:20:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-01T18:20:59","slug":"the-cassini-orbiter-takes-one-last-look-at-oddball-moon-hyperion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/2015\/06\/01\/the-cassini-orbiter-takes-one-last-look-at-oddball-moon-hyperion\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cassini Orbiter Takes One Last Look at Oddball Moon Hyperion"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ever since it first went into orbit around Saturn in July 2004, NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft has racked countless discoveries about the gas giant and its spectacular set of rings, moons, and satellites. From delivering the ESA-built Huygens lander to Saturn\u2019s moon Titan to recording the fallout of Saturn\u2019s Great White Spot storm on the planet itself, the Cassini mission has been a nonstop scientific goldmine for planetary scientists.<\/p>\n

Alas, all good things must come to an end, and Cassini\u2019s days are now numbered. In September 2017, the spacecraft will peace out after its long, illustrious career and tumble into the depths of the gas giant it has orbited over a decade. It is already in the process of making the rounds around Saturn\u2019s diverse moons\u2014seven of which it discovered\u2014to offer its final goodbyes.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, for example, Cassini will visit the bizarre moon Hyperion for the last time. Mission leads can\u2019t predict exactly what side of the moon will be exposed to the orbiter, because Hyperion\u2019s axis is uniquely wobbly and off-kilter. In fact, it is the the only moon in the solar system that rotates chaotically, the only natural satellite that is not tidally locked to its host planet.<\/p>\n

On top of that, Hyperion\u2019s geological properties are very weird. Its surface is sponge-like and heavily cratered, and its potato-like shape suggests it may be leftover debris from a massive collision. As planetary geologist Jeff Moore put it: \u201cHyperion looks like it had the crap smashed out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cassini team hopes to luck out with a new angle on this fascinating moon as it flies by this Sunday, but even if it doesn\u2019t, the orbiter has a lot more to look forward to in its upcoming golden years. Starting in late 2016, Cassini will begin its so-called \u201cGrand Finale\u201d mission, in which it will sample alien geysers, dip between the Saturnian rings, and take up-close pictures of the planet itself before diving into its gaseous exterior.<\/p>\n

Source: The Cassini Orbiter Takes One Last Look at Oddball Moon Hyperion<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since it first went into orbit around Saturn in July 2004, NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft has racked countless discoveries about the gas giant and its spectacular set of rings, moons, and satellites. From delivering the ESA-built Huygens lander to Saturn\u2019s moon Titan to recording the fallout of Saturn\u2019s Great White Spot storm on the planet itself, the Cassini mission has been a nonstop scientific goldmine for planetary scientists. Alas, all good things must come to an end, and Cassini\u2019s days are now numbered. In September 2017, the spacecraft will peace out after its long, illustrious career and tumble into the depths of the gas giant it has orbited over a decade. It is already in the process of making the rounds around Saturn\u2019s diverse moons\u2014seven of which it discovered\u2014to offer its final goodbyes. On Sunday, for example, Cassini will visit the bizarre moon Hyperion for the last time. Mission leads can\u2019t predict exactly what side of the moon will be exposed to the orbiter, because Hyperion\u2019s axis is uniquely wobbly and off-kilter. In fact, it is the the only moon in the solar system that rotates chaotically, the only natural satellite that is not tidally locked to its host planet. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[388,876,1205,1498],"class_list":["post-9346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-space","tag-cassini","tag-hyperion","tag-nasa","tag-saturn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9346\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.megalextoria.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}