NASA Daily News Summary

For Release: Sept. 2, 1999

Media Advisory m99-180

Summary:

No News Releases Today.

Video File for Sept. 2, 1999

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If NASA issues any news releases later today, we will

e-mail summaries and Internet URLs to this list.

Index of 1999 NASA News Releases:

http://www.nasa.gov/releases/1999/index.html

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Video File for Sept. 2, 1999

Summary:

ITEM 1 - SEAWIFS MAP OF THE WORLD (Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view

Sensor)

ITEM 2 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HERITAGE PHOTO OF THE MONTH:

A MINUET OF GALAXIES

ITEM 3 - IMAGES OF THE MOON TAKEN DURING CASSINI SPACECRAFT

FLY-BY
(replay)

LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS COMING UP THIS WEEK:

September 3, Friday
6:00 - 10:00 am - Urban Heat Islands Live News Interviews - MSFC

For information see: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/breaking.html

NOTE: GLOBAL BIOSPHERE IMAGES TO BE RELEASED NEXT WEEK
Today's first video file item is an early release of the global
biosphere as seen by NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
onboard the SeaStar satellite. The complete global biosphere
package is scheduled for release September 9. This is what the
package will show:

Seen from space the oceans color the Earth like a big blue
marble. But with the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor
(SeaWiFS) aboard the SeaStar satellite, sea colors bloom
into an artist's palate of rich scientific information. Sent
into orbit two years ago, SeaWiFS is approaching its second
operational anniversary and researchers continue to get back
significant results from this small, inexpensive research
device. By observing something as apparently simple as ocean
color, scientists working with SeaWiFS data are beginning to
understand the complex rhythms of life in the oceans, the
pulse of the global biosphere, and human effects on the
environment.

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Video File for Sept. 2, 1999

ITEM 1 - SEAWIFS MAP OF THE WORLD (Sea-viewing Wide TRT - :40

Field-of-view Sensor)

The Global Biosphere--The Pulse of the Planet (Early Release):

NASA's SeaWiFS instrument has continuously taken the pulse of the
world's biosphere since the instrument came on-line two years ago.
In this image, note the cyclical changes in colors across the
Pacific equatorial region, the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe, and
various coastal zones around the world. Dark blues indicate low
concentrations of chlorophyll and, therefore, high concentrations
of green plants called phytoplankton. On land, heavily vegetated
areas are dark green and areas with little or no live vegetation
are colored brown.

The complete global biosphere package is scheduled for release

September 9.

Contact at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD: Wade

Sisler 301/286-6256.
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: David E. Steitz
202/358-1730.

ITEM 2 - HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE HERITAGE PHOTO OF TRT - :15

THE MONTH: A MINUET OF GALAXIES

As seen by the Hubble Space Telescope, this troupe of four

galaxies, known as Hickson Compact Group 87 (HCG 87), is
performing an intricate dance orchestrated by the mutual
gravitational forces acting among them. The dance is a slow,
graceful minuet, occurring over a time span of hundreds of
millions of years. The image was taken by the Wide Field and
Planetary Camera 2 on NASA's Hubble Space.

More information is available on the Web at: http://www.stsci.edu/

Contact at Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD: Ray

Villard 410/338-4514.
Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Donald Savage
202/358-1547.

ITEM 3 - IMAGES OF THE MOON TAKEN FROM CASSINI SPACECRAFT

(replay)

Instruments aboard the Saturn-bound Cassini took these images of

the moon during its closest fly-by of the Earth on August 17,
1999. Cassini, launched in 1997, is a joint mission of NASA, the
European Space Agency and Italian Space Agency.

Contact at NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC: Doug Isbell

202/358-1753.
Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary
Beth Murrill 818/354-6478.

Images available on the Web at

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/ciclops/images.html

Item 3a - Wide-Angle Moving Image of Moon Taken from Cassini

Spacecraft

This brief movie illustrates the passage of the Moon through the
field of view of the Saturn-bound Cassini spacecraft's camera as
Cassini passed by the Moon on the way to its closest approach with
Earth on August 17. 1999. The movie uses 25 wide-angle images
from the violet to the infrared. The dark, circular region in the
upper right is the Crisium basin.

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/University of Arizona/JPL/NASA

Item 3b - Narrow-Angle Moving Image of Moon Taken from Cassini

Spacecraft

This brief three-frame movie of the Moon was made from three
narrow-angle images from Cassini's camera system as the Saturn-
bound spacecraft passed by on the way to its closest approach with
Earth on August 17. 1999. The purpose of this particular set of
images was to calibrate the spectral response of the narrow-angle
camera and to test its image data compression techniques in
flight.

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/University of Arizona/JPL/NASA

Item 3c - Still Image (single frame) of the Moon Taken From

Cassini Spacecraft

This image of the Moon taken by the Cassini camera system is one
of the best of a sequence of narrow-angle frames taken of the Moon
as the Saturn-bound spacecraft passed by on the way to its closest
approach with Earth on August 17. 1999. The 80 millisecond
exposure shows features as small as about 1.4 miles across (about
2.3 kilometers).

Credit: Cassini Imaging Team/University of Arizona/JPL/NASA

Item 3d - Saturn-Bound Cassini Prepares for August 17

Fly By of Earth

Contact at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA: Mary

Beth Murrill 818/354-5011.

Item 3d-i - Cassini Trajectory Assistance TRT - :35

Launched in October 1997, Cassini flies past Venus twice, then

once past Earth and Jupiter. Each planetary flyby increases
Cassini's speed, allowing it to reach distant Saturn.

Item 3d-ii - Animation comparing attitude of Cassini TRT - :24

flyby with Space Shuttle, Hubble, Space
Station.

Cassini will fly about twice as high as the orbit of the

International Space Station, and higher than most of the
hundreds of satellites in orbit around Earth.

Item 3d-iii - Earth Fly By Animation TRT - :21

The flyby of Earth on Aug. 17, 1999 (11:28 pm EDT) will be at an

altitude of about 725 miles.

Item 3d-iv - Venus Animation TRT - :52

To reach Saturn, Cassini must fly a nearly 7-year course past

Venus twice, and Earth and Jupiter once. Cassini's first flyby
of Venus in April 1998 was perfect, coming less than 200 miles
from the surface and had accelerated in its speed. The second
flyby in June 1999 accelerated the spacecraft's speed even
further.

Item 3d-v - Jupiter FlyBy Animation TRT - :30

The Earth flyby directs Cassini on to its next planetary

gravity-assist, this time at Jupiter on Dec. 30, 2000. Cassini
will have an opportunity to train its instruments on the giant
planet, its moons, its magnetic and radiation environment.

Item 3d-vi - Animation of Cassini rocket firing over TRT - :30

Saturn's ring plane

The Cassini spacecraft will reach Saturn in July 2004. Cassini's

onboard rocket will fire, braking the spacecraft's speed and
allowing it to be captured into orbit around Saturn.

Item 3d-vii - Hyugens Animation showing Detachment of TRT - 3:19

Probe, Parachute Drop, Titan Surface

The Hyugens Probe, provided by the European Space Agency, will

detach from the Cassini spacecraft and parachute to the Titan
surface to study its atmosphere and surface characteristics.
Item 3d-viii - Cassini Launch footage TRT - :59

The Cassini mission to Saturn was successfully launched from

Cape Canaveral, FLA, on Oct. 15, 1997. The Cassini program is a
cooperative effort of NASA, the Eurpean Space Agency, and the
Italian Space Agency.

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