Planetary and Space Science 164 (2018) 13–18

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Planetary and Space Science

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/pss

Final Mimas and Enceladus atlases derived from Cassini-ISS images

Th Roatsch a, *, E. Kersten a, K.-D. Matz a, M.T. Bland b, T.L. Becker b, G.W. Patterson c, C.C. Porco d
a
Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany
b
USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
c
Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD, USA
d
CICLOPS, Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA

A B S T R A C T

The Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) on-board Cassini took a few high-resolution images of the icy Saturnian satellites Mimas and Enceladus over the last seven years
of the Cassini mission during non-targeted flybys. We used the new Mimas images to improve the existing semi-controlled mosaic of Mimas. A new controlled
Enceladus mosaic was published recently (Bland et al., 2015; Bland et al. in prep.). Both new mosaics are the baseline for improved atlases of Mimas in three tiles with
a map scale of 1:1,000,000 and Enceladus in 15 tiles with a map scale of 1:400,000. The nomenclature for both satellites was proposed by the Cassini-ISS team and
approved by the IAU.

1. Introduction
The Cassini spacecraft started its tour through the Saturnian system in
July 2004 and finished it in September 2017. The ISS consisted of a high-
resolution Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) with a focal length of 2000 mm
and a Wide Angle Camera (WAC) with a focal length of 200 mm (Porco
et al., 2004). One of the main objectives of the Cassini mission was to
investigate the icy Saturnian satellites. Primarily, the medium-sized
satellites were imaged in many targeted and non-targeted flybys. The
main difference between targeted and non-targeted flybys is an opera-
tional issue; targeted flybys were kept as planned with orbit maneuvers
shortly before the flyby, non-targeted flybys could change slightly. The
processing chain was the same for both cases.
The processing chain after the download of the images from the
spacecraft consists of the same steps as described in Roatsch et al. (2006):
radiometric calibration, geometric correction, map projection, and
mosaicking.
All mosaics and maps were archived as standard products in the
Planetary Data System (PDS) (https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/
volumes/carto.html) and are available at the DLR-Europlanet website
(http://europlanet.dlr.de/Cassini-Atlases).
2. Mimas map tiles
A first version of the Mimas atlas in the synoptic format on a single
sheet (Greeley and Batson, 1990) was published in 2008 (Roatsch et al.,
2009). After the close Mimas flyby on February 13, 2010 (flyby distance
9546,7 km), which delivered the first high-resolution images, the reso-
lution of the atlas was improved by a factor of 5 compared to the first
version and the format could be changed to the subdivision of the syn-
optic format with four quadrangles on three sheets in 2010 (Roatsch
et al., 2013). Higher-resolution images of Mimas mainly in the Northern
hemisphere (see Fig. 1) were acquired during three non-targeted flybys in
2016 and 2017 due to the better illumination of this region close to the
end of the mission. 12 of these images were added to the second atlas to
generate the final version of the Mimas atlas. The map scale of 1:1,000,
000 and the image mosaic resolution of 216 m/pixel have not changed
between the second and the final version. Examples of the final version
are shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
3. Enceladus map tiles
A first version of the Enceladus atlas in the 15 quadrangle format for
medium-sized bodies and high-resolution imaging (Greeley and Batson,
1990) was published in 2006 (Roatsch et al., 2008). The map scale of the
Enceladus atlas of 1:500,000 was not changed in the second version from
2010 (Roatsch et al., 2013) but many lower-resolution areas were
replaced by higher-resolution images and additional feature names were
added to the atlas.
A global control network of Enceladus containing Cassini ISS images

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: thomas.roatsch@dlr.de (T. Roatsch).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pss.2018.05.021
Received 13 February 2018; Received in revised form 23 May 2018; Accepted 31 May 2018
Available online 1 June 2018
0032-0633/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
T. Roatsch et al. Planetary and Space Science 164 (2018) 13–18

Fig. 1. Coverage and resolution of the Mimas images taken in 2016 and 2017 and used in the final mosaic.

Fig. 2. Mimas map sheet: Sm-1 Accolon.

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Fig. 3. Mimas map sheet: Sm-3 Arthur.

was completed recently (Bland et al., 2015; Bland et al., 2018, submit-
ted). This network was used to create a global controlled mosaic out of
108 images at a resolution of 100 m/pixel. The resolution was improved
in some areas compared to the previous Enceladus atlas taking new
high-resolution images received since 2010 but especially with some
North polar images from 2016 (see Fig. 4). The resulting mosaic is the
baseline for the third and final Enceladus atlas, which has still the same
quadrangle format but a higher map scale of 1:400,000. Examples from
this version are shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

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Fig. 4. Coverage and resolution of the Enceladus images taken between 2010 and 2016 and used in the mosaic shown in simple cylindrical (a) and polar stereographic
(b) projection.

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Fig. 5. Enceladus map sheet: Se-1 Sindbad.

Fig. 6. Enceladus map sheet: Se-3 Kasim.

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