Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

Suitable For Framing: Latest Eye Candy from Cassini

[/caption]

Another Cassini stunner! This gorgeous, suitable-for-framing image shows two of Saturn’s moons hanging below the planet’s rings, as if strung on a necklace. Beautiful! Enceladus (504 kilometers, 313 miles across) appears just below the rings, while Tethys (1062 kilometers, 660 miles across) appears below. In this shot, Cassini is also closer to Tethys than Enceladus: the spacecraft is 208,000 kilometers (139,000 miles) from Tethys and 272,000 kilometers (169,000 miles) from Enceladus. This image was taken on September 13, 2011.

See below for some raw images from Cassini’s October 1 close fly by of Enceladus, including a great shot of the moon hovering in front of Saturn’s rings, and a view of the geysers.


A closeup view of Enceladus with Saturn's rings in the background. This raw image was taken on Oct. 1, 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

A view of Enceladus from farther away, with the rings slicing through the view of Saturn in the background. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
A view of the geysers on Enceladus, from Cassini's latest close flyby of the moon, on October 1, 2011.Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

5 Replies to “Suitable For Framing: Latest Eye Candy from Cassini”

  2. I would love to book a flight for a photographic tour of our Solar system, there should be no question of funding science as a priority so long as vested interests and politics are shown the door.
    VERY inspiring images Nancy, more please!! 🙂

  4. Now, that first one is just ridiculous.

    It would be iconic, if not Cassini has produced so many already. (Titan, Enceladus, Titan and Dione, …)

  5. These spectacular photos streaming back from Cassini, seem, in my mind, to almost capture the Science Fiction illustrator’s old dreams, and the Space artist’s past visions: The imaginings of elegantly arrayed Moon Systems, star worlds revolving in time, or even Gas Giant planets, surrounded by impossible rings, turning in space. Now, through images of lens, sent back to Earth from distant robotic probe in Saturn-orbit, these celestial scenes, reminiscent of yesterday’s future visions, are effortlessly displayed in our work/home view-screens, detailing the wonders of today’s Science

Comments are closed.