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Here are a few raw images from the Cassini spacecraft’s most recent flyby of Enceladus. The probe seems to be in good health following several weeks in safe mode, after a bit flipped in the command and data subsystem computer. This prevented the spacecraft from registering and following instructions. But she appears to be humming along just fine now, and snapped this great picture of Enceladus and Dione yesterday (have to quote @lukedones on Twitter: “Dione going in the corner pocket!”) Cassini focused on the Enceladus during a close flyby on November 30, so see more below, including a wonderful shot of a veritable curtain of geyser “spray.”
See more raw images at the Cassini website, or the CICLOPS imaging website.
I AM SO HAPPY to have Cassini BACK! *big grin*
I am rendered inarticulate in awe of such beauty. Good show, Cassini-chaps!
Cassini also made a close approach to rarely imaged Hyperion in late November, coming within 75000 km. Its battered, crater-saturated surface belies a violent past: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS65/N00165148.jpg
Wow. They’re all great pictures! I wish I could get that close and personal.
Wow again, thanks Cassini! The last picture makes me wonder what it would be like to stand on Enceladus’s surface. It almost makes me feel like I’m there. Keep ’em coming Cassini.
Good work Cassini. Glad everything back to normal.
Ah, Their’s nothing like the smell of geysers on Enceladus in the morning.
Cassini’s gotta be mankind’s greatest achievement to date. Luvit!
The first shot shows just how BIG these geysers are, compared to the curvature of this little world. Wouldn’t it be an amazing sight if you were standing anywhere near them?