Bruce Breedlove
05-24-2010, 11:52 PM
What a success story for Cassini and NASA. Some of these photos are simply incredible. Enjoy! (30 images total)
Image 1 - Saturn's largest moon Titan (3,200 miles in diameter) eclipsing Tethys (660 miles in diameter). Note the huge crater on Tethys called the Odysseus Crater. (Titan's diameter is about 50% greater than that of Earth's Moon.)
Image 2 - The tiny moon Mimas (246 miles in diameter) with a backdrop of Saturn's upper atmosphere.
Image 3 - Mimas from about 43,500 miles. Note the huge Herschel Crater (80 miles wide). Saturn's upper atmosphere is in the background.
Image 4 - A closer view of Herschel Crater taken from 5,900 miles. I find it interesting that many large impact craters have a central peak that is created when the surface material rebounds after the impact.
Image 5 - Another tiny moon of Saturn called Calypso (an irreguarly-shaped satellite that measures roughly 18.6 miles X 14.25 miles X 8.7 miles). Calypso and another tiny moon (together called Trojan moons) both travel in the same orbit as Tethys (one leading, one trailing). This image was taken from a distance of 13,000 miles. Note the lack of intense cratering found on Saturn's other moons. (My theory is that Calypso is a hunk of space debris that was captured by Saturn's gravitational forces and became a satellite.)
Image 1 - Saturn's largest moon Titan (3,200 miles in diameter) eclipsing Tethys (660 miles in diameter). Note the huge crater on Tethys called the Odysseus Crater. (Titan's diameter is about 50% greater than that of Earth's Moon.)
Image 2 - The tiny moon Mimas (246 miles in diameter) with a backdrop of Saturn's upper atmosphere.
Image 3 - Mimas from about 43,500 miles. Note the huge Herschel Crater (80 miles wide). Saturn's upper atmosphere is in the background.
Image 4 - A closer view of Herschel Crater taken from 5,900 miles. I find it interesting that many large impact craters have a central peak that is created when the surface material rebounds after the impact.
Image 5 - Another tiny moon of Saturn called Calypso (an irreguarly-shaped satellite that measures roughly 18.6 miles X 14.25 miles X 8.7 miles). Calypso and another tiny moon (together called Trojan moons) both travel in the same orbit as Tethys (one leading, one trailing). This image was taken from a distance of 13,000 miles. Note the lack of intense cratering found on Saturn's other moons. (My theory is that Calypso is a hunk of space debris that was captured by Saturn's gravitational forces and became a satellite.)