Cassini, Titan Flyby on Dec 12

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http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/titan20091212/

Cassini
Titan Flyby (T-63) - Dec. 12, 2009

T-63: Titan's Magnetosphere in Focus

Titan's magnetosphere gets prime measuring time during Cassini's "T-63"
flyby of Titan on Dec. 12, 2009. This is the Equinox mission's most
opportune passage through the wake that the large moon creates as it
plows through Saturn's magnetophere.

The Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) team takes the lead on pointing
at closest approach, allowing some fields, particles and wave
instruments to take advantage of this special opportunity.

The T-63 (the planned 63rd pass of Titan) encounter passes through
Titan's wake and the "magnetotail" region, where Saturn's magnetic field
lines drape into a comet-shaped structure around Titan. This opportunity
is both similar and very complementary to the Voyager (November 1980 and
August 1981) and Cassini T-9 (December 2005) encounters of Titan.

The encounter occurs near dusk in Saturn's magnetosphere, unlike Voyager
(near noon) or T-9 (near midnight). This is the second of three
opportunities for a CAPS Equinox Mission prime encounter.

The T-63 flyby was also designed to set up the correct orientation for
the first ansa-to-ansa ring occultation.

*Titan Flyby*
Dec. 12, 2009 (SCET)

*Altitude*
4,850 kilometers (3,014 miles)

*Speed*
6.0 km/sec (13,400 mph)

*Details*
+ Mission Description PDF (0.5 MB)
<http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/files/20091212_titan_mission_description.pdf>