This Week on Galileo - November 25 - December 1, 1996
This week Galileo reaches apojove (the furthest distance from Jupiter) for the C3 orbit and starts back toward Jupiter and its next satellite encounter. An orbit trim maneuver is performed to correct the spacecraft's path for any residual errors from the Callisto flyby and any errors obtained while doing the previous maneuver. Having reached the mid-point between encounters, the second sequence of commands for the cruise phase is also sent to the spacecraft this week. This set of commands will tell the spacecraft what to do from now until the start of the next encounter. In addition, playback continues around these other activities and returns data gathered during the fifth, sixth and seventh days of the Callisto encounter.
This week includes the return of an extensive map of the topography on Io at 2.5 to 10 kilometers per pixel. Recall that this encounter was the closest Galileo will have come to Io during the rest of the orbital tour. This map will help scientists to understand the distribution of mountains, calderas and other features on Io.
During the middle of the week, playback will also include the return of observations taken during the flyby of Europa at a distance of only 34,000 km. Some of these observations will be used for mapping the areas surrounding the high resolution observations that will be made during closer flybys of Europa.
One of the main observation sets from the Callisto encounter is returned during this week. This set of observations was taken while the Sun was blocked by Jupiter. Taking advantage of the low lighting, these observations focused on aurora, lightening flashes in Jupiter's atmosphere and Jupiter's thin rings.
Finally, sprinkled throughout the week is playback of observations of Thebe and Amalthea. The last day of the week contains the first of the Callisto closest approach observations, the majority of which are returned next week. Stay Tuned!