ICY SCIENCE: SCIENCE SPACE ASTRONOMY Spring 2014 | Page 50

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THE INTERVIEW
Valerie Klavans
Admin and Owner of “Titan Saturn’s Moon”
Image Processor and Social Media Leader for
In Saturn’s Rings

IC: Can you tell us about your interest in image processing? What are your favourite images to
process?
VK: In 2009 I made a Facebook page for Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and began posting images of the moon as
well as the latest news from the Cassini mission. As I dug deeper into the Cassini images I saw that the spacecraft sends “raw” images (uncalibrated, untouched, monochrome images) back to Earth on a frequent basis. I
learned that these raw, monochrome images can be combined into composites to show the true colour of the
Saturn system. One day in 2012, I began to process these images and I found myself feeling like I was travelling
along with Cassini. Whenever the latest images come back from the spacecraft I dabble in a new colour composite of one of the worlds in the Saturn system. My favourite images to process are of Titan – specifically the
infrared frames that reveal Titan’s surface. In parti 7V