Reality and the "Supermoon"

I don't usually post images from my own telescope on this blog, but I will break with tradition tonight.   You have likely heard all the fuss about the "Supermoon."   The reality is is that it is a whopping fifteen kilometers closer to earth than its closest approach last year (four one-thousandth of one percent!).  That's it.  Other than a bit of trivia that provides a great excuse to go out and look at the oft-neglected moon, there is nothing more to it.  The end.

Below is a view of the moon on the evening of March 19, 2011 ("Supermoon" night), with a 10-inch telescope through a thin layer of clouds.  

Image Copyright Ted Stryk

Wanted: In Digital Format...and my 2011 LPSC poster presentation...

I am posting this in hopes that someone will see it and know where I might find the dataset I am looking for.   The image of Titan seen here is image G14.   It is the best of a sequence that included G15 and G16 (for each number, there are two images, a red channel image and a blue channel image).  If any of you have or know where I could find these (or any other Pioneer images) images in their native digital format (probably in the form of a printed out matrix), please let me know.

  

 While I'm at it, here is how the image looks with both channels separated and without any processing.  Again, what I am looking for is the digital data, not a better source to scan.

While I'm on the subject of Pioneer 10 and 11, here is the abstract I submitted for the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (which I will be attending this week).  http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2011/pdf/1267.pdf  It was written before my visit to Ames Research Center in January.  I did find some better material to scan and some fragments, but I did not find the digital data I had hoped to.  The most useful projects will likely be a high resolution mosaic using the closeup data from Pioneer 11 as it passed over Jupiter's North Pole and a sequence (perhaps to be made into a movie) of Jupiter rotating from above the North Pole as Pioneer 11 receded. Here is the poster I am presenting, which is a combination of older work and very preliminary processing.  

Each image is designated by a letter.  Here is a guide to the images based on those letters:

A.  Pioneer  11 image C5 (Jupiter) Scans

B.   Pioneer  11 image C7 (Jupiter) Scans

C.   Pioneer  11 images C1 and C2 (Jupiter) Scans

D.  Pioneer  11 images D1 and C2 (Jupiter) Scans

E.   Pioneer  11 image D16 (Jupiter) Scans

F.    Pioneer  11 image D19 (Jupiter) Scans

G.  Pioneer  11 image D7  (Io)  Digital.

H.  Pioneer  10 image A24 (Ganymede) Digital

I.      Pioneer  11 image D3 (Jupiter) Scans

J.     Pioneer  11 image F7 (Mimas transiting Saturn) Scans

K.   Pioneer  11 image F12 (Saturnian Rings) Digital

L.    Pioneer 10 image B38 (Jupiter with “Little Red Spot”) Scans

M.     Pioneer 10 image B39 (Jupiter with “Little Red Spot”) Scans

N. Pioneer 11 mosaic using data from images F33, F19, and F12-F5 (Saturn) Mix of digital data and scans.

O. Pioneer 10 image A2 (Jupiter – Great Red Spot) Scan

This is only the tip of the iceberg...

Scanned material and raw data courtesy NASA/Ames Research Center.  Processed images Copyright Ted Stryk.

During Galileo's 24th orbit of Jupiter in October of 1999, it flew by its innermost large moon, Io, snapping closeup photos.  However, many of those photos were scrambled by the effects of Jupiter's intense radiation belts. They were descrambled using ingenious software, but they still look rough compared with normal images.  I have been exploring ways to make cosmetic improvements to the images, but the results have been dissapointing.  Still, one mosaic is worth sharing, centered over Donar Fluctus (the wedge shaped feature).   The color and gaps in the data have been filled in from Galileo's 3rd and 21st orbit.

Here is another version.

Processed Image Copyright Ted Stryk, Raw Data Courtesy NASA/JPL

Updated: Io Over Jupiter's Terminator (and also a bit of historical perspective)

On March 4, 1979, Voyager 1 snapped an exquisite mosaic of Io as it completed a transit above the Jovian cloud tops. This is an improved version of a mosaic of images it took that I posted in August.

The next set is a comparison to show just how far planetary imaging has come.  The top row shows the best images of the Jovian moons Io and Ganymede from the Pioneer mission in the early 1970s as they flew by Jupiter.  The Pioneer probes were spin stabilized which (at least in those days) made it impossible for them to carry a true camera, so they had to scan line by line to build up an image. 
The bottom row also shows images of  Io and Ganymede, this time from the mid 2000s, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.  For comparison, please keep in mind that they don't show the same parts of each  moon and the illumination angle is different, especially for Io.  Still, the Hubble images, taken from low earth orbit, are far superior.  How far we have come!

Processed Images Copyright Ted Stryk
Raw Voyager Data Courtesy NASA/JPL
Raw Pioneer Data Courtesy NASA/Ames
Raw Hubble Data Courtesy NASA/STScI

Ganymede from Galileo

The image below is Galileo's view of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. It was taken on February 27, 1997.   Missing areas were filled in with other data, and color was taken from other datasets as well.

Processed Image Copyright Ted Stryk, Raw Data Courtesy NASA/JPL

Io over Jupiter's terminator

On March 4, 1979, Voyager 1 snapped an exquisite mosaic of Io as it completed a transit above the Jovian cloud tops.  Unfortunately, the apparent motion of Io was so great with respect to Jupiter that it is very difficult to assemble.  I still plan to do further tweaking, so this is somewhat of a work in progress.  The bit of Jupiter visible is simply the last bit of haze that caught sunlight at the edge of the day side, so there isn't much detail to be seen.  The view of Io is quite sharp.

Processed Image Copyright Ted Stryk, Raw Data Courtesy NASA/JPL