Cassini sends back beautiful images of Saturnian moons

Tethys

Daphnis - the wave maker

Mimas - the Death Star

Pandora

Prometheus

For over 12 years, the Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn, studying its moons, its rings and its atmosphere.  It is sending back some beautiful pictures of Saturnian moons.  It is scheduled to be destroyed by sending it into Saturn's atmosphere to avoid contamination of the moons.  (Huygens didn't contaminate Titan?).

Cassini spacecraft taking hi-resolution pics of Saturn's moons

Atlas

 

This small moon is only 30 kilometers, or 19 miles across.  Atlas orbits Saturn in a region called the Roche Division, between the planet's A and F rings, at the outer edge of the main ring system. The outer A ring is seen at the bottom of this view.

 

 

Epimetheus

 

A little larger than Atlas, Epimetheus is 116 kilometers, or 72 miles across.

 

Prometheus

 

Prometheus, 86 kilometers, or 53 miles across, orbits Saturn just inside the F ring, seen at the top of the picture.

 

Tethys

 

Tethys (531km or 319 miles) is dwarfed by Saturn and its rings.  A crescent view like this is impossible to see from Earth.  Reflected light from the rings illuminate Tethys' northern hemisphere.

 

nasa.gov

 

 

 

Cassini-Hugyens spacecraft launched in 1997

The Cassini-Huygens space probe, now circling Saturn and her moons and sending back tons of data, started its seven year trek on October 15, 1997.  It arrived at the planet in June 2004 for a four year mission, which it completed in 2008 however it is still going strong.  It has sent back hundreds of gigabytes of data on Saturn, Titan, Enceladus, Iapetus, Dione, Hyperion, Tethys and other moons.

Starting this week, Cassini will make three close encounters with Enceladus.  She will fly through the icy material continually erupting from the moon's surface.  A tricky maneuver, given the speed of the probe and what damage even a small particle can do.

Part of the mission was to deploy the Huygens lander on the surface of Titan.  It landed with little difficulty and transmitted about 90 minutes after touchdown.  Images show an orange surface covered with hydrocarbon-coated water ice pebbles.  The temperature was a balmy -179.35 °C!  It's the farthest surface landing from Earth.