Hi all,
only about two weeks ago (Nov 30, 2010), a new much improved hires map update for the icy Saturnian moon
Tethys has been released by the NASA/Cassini mission.
It updates the version released in February 2010 (see PIA12560). New data collected during Cassini's Aug 14, 2010, flyby of the moon are used to fill in the far northern latitudes of the map from about 75 degrees north latitude to the north pole. Coverage also improves farther south on the side of the moon facing away from Saturn. That improved coverage starts at about 40 degrees north latitude and stretches north to the pole in the area roughly west of the large Odysseus Crater (between 160 degrees and 260 degrees west longitude).
The official map release is available at this URL:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA11673
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I felt it was worthwhile to provide a respective 16k VT-archive for Celestia (.Sci), using my F-TexTools
http://www.celestialmatters.org/users/t ... .0pre1.zip
to guarantee highest possible quality. See below for the
VT download.
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For the implemented direct DXT compression of the output tiles, this version of my tools uses libnvtt 2.0.4 of the new,
opensource NVIDIA texture tools from here
http://code.google.com/p/nvidia-texture-tools/
The output consists of optimized 1k x 1k tiles in highest quality DXT1 format. A quality difference compared to lossless PNG format cannot be noticed anymore by visual judgement! As a big advantage, however, the DXT tiles provide butter smooth highest resolution imaging with Celestia due to the GPU-supported decoding of DXT format.
Since I have included the respective .bin-format textures at each VT level (0..3), purists can also produce PNG-format tiles with my 'txtiles' tool very easily (in less than 5 minutes!).
Using my 'bin2png' tool, you can also restore the original 16k lossless PNG texture in no time from the corresponding level3 .bin file.
Unlike the original grayscale imaging source, the present texture has been computer-colored via GIMP, with this best ever /natural color/ Tethys image as a template:
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalo ... r=PIA06140
For Celestia.Sci, I am also considering to use Dr. Paul Schenk's new
enhanced colors of the medium sized Saturnian moons as color templates for my hires textures.
(Welcome at CM, Pau!

)
http://stereomoons.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-moons.html
The subtle enhanced colors beyond visual perception, provide a much more direct visualization of geological processes in the solar system, for example.
The colorful splotches and bands on the icy moons' surfaces are believed to testify from bombardments large and small.
Using a much extended (scientific) color concept (for DSOs and solar system bodies) along with wavelength filtered imaging is an essential new approach in my forthcoming Celestia.Sci distribution.
Here is an example of Dr. Schenk's
enhanced Tethys colors:
In
visual observation, Tethys appears VERY bright (see
natural color photo above), which tends to hide the great details of the surface. So, as a compromise, I brightened the official Nov 2010 Tethys texture somewhat, but still kept it darker than the photographic images suggest.
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Download of 16k VT-set ++++++++++++++++++++++
In order to include my 16k Tethys VT archive into Celestia, just unzip it in the extras folder.
http://www.celestialmatters.org/users/t ... b_DXT1.zip
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Finally, here is a flavor of how my new hires Tethys VT set looks like in Celestia:
Click for big size, please do so!
Click for big size, please do so!
Click for big size, please do so!
Click for big size, please do so!
Enjoy,
Fridger