The Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem acquired about 26,000 images of the Jupiter system as the spacecraft encountered the giant planet en route to Saturn. We report findings on Jupiter's zonal winds, convective storms, low-latitude upper troposphere, polar stratosphere, and northern aurora. We also describe previously unseen emissions arising from Io and Europa in eclipse, a giant volcanic plume over Io's north pole, disk-resolved images of the satellite Himalia, circumstantial evidence for a causal relation between the satellites Metis and Adrastea and the main jovian ring, and information on the nature of the ring particles.
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only satellite in the Solar System with a substantial atmosphere. The atmosphere is poorly understood and obscures the surface, leading to intense speculation about Titan's nature. Here we present observations of Titan from the imaging science experiment onboard the Cassini spacecraft that address some of these issues. The images reveal intricate surface albedo features that suggest aeolian, tectonic and fluvial processes; they also show a few circular features that could be impact structures. These observations imply that substantial surface modification has occurred over Titan's history. We have not directly detected liquids on the surface to date. Convective clouds are found to be common near the south pole, and the motion of mid-latitude clouds consistently indicates eastward winds, from which we infer that the troposphere is rotating faster than the surface. A detached haze at an altitude of 500 km is 150-200 km higher than that observed by Voyager, and more tenuous haze layers are also resolved.
The Cassini Imaging Science Subsystem acquired high-resolution imaging data on the outer Saturnian moon, Phoebe, during Cassini's close flyby on 11 June 2004 and on Iapetus during a flyby on 31 December 2004. Phoebe has a heavily cratered and ancient surface, shows evidence of ice near the surface, has distinct layering of different materials, and has a mean density that is indicative of an ice-rock mixture. Iapetus's dark leading side (Cassini Regio) is ancient, heavily cratered terrain bisected by an equatorial ridge system that reaches 20 kilometers relief. Local albedo variations within and bordering Cassini Regio suggest mass wasting of ballistically deposited material, the origin of which remains unknown.
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