Dr. Schenk's 3D House of Satellites: July 2011

NOTES ABOUT THE DATA

These brief notes are posted to help viewers understand the nature of the topographic data. Voyager, Galileo and Cassini carried imaging cameras but not altimeters. Topography is instead generated using stereo images or low-Sun images (which can be used to calculate slopes and heights). Neither method is perfect and often, as is the case for Miranda, individual stereo pairs must be constructed and then stitched back together to form a global or partial topographic map. This means that the elevations shown are not precise with respect to the center of the body. Height values derived are accurate however with respect to local features. For example, we know the steep cliff on Miranda is about 10 km high top to base but we do not know how high it is with respect to the mean "sea level" on Miranda. This cannot be determined until we return to these places.
I will post additional information on the data over the next few days.

Inquiries for the scientific use of the original digital elevation data should be forwarded to schenk@lpi.usra.edu.