NASA has released the latest image of Epimetheus, one of Saturn’s smaller moons.
This image of Saturn’s small moon Epimetheus was captured on July 26, 2015, when Cassini was nearly 500,000 miles (800,000 km) from Epimetheus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
Epimetheus, also known as Saturn XI, is an inner satellite of the gas giant Saturn. It was discovered by astronomer Richard Walker on 18 December 1966.
The moon is a potato-shaped object with dimensions approximately 84 x 65 x 65 miles (135 x 108 x 105 km, respectively).
Epimetheus and the neighboring Saturnian moon Janus have been referred to as the Siamese twins of Saturn because they orbit the parent planet in nearly the same orbit.
According to planetary scientists, these two moons may have formed by the break-up of one object.
Epimetheus, the fifth moon in distance from Saturn, orbits the planet in less than 17 hours. It is phase locked with Saturn – one side always faces toward the gas giant.
The small moon is thought to be composed of water ice, but its density of less than 0.7 is much less than that of water. Thus, the moon is probably a rubble pile – a collection of numerous boulders, rocks, and dust loosely held together by gravity.
Close-up view of Epimetheus. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
The new image of Epimetheus was obtained when the robotic Cassini spacecraft was some 500,000 miles (800,000 km) from the moon.
The image was taken in visible light with Cassini’s narrow-angle camera on July 26, 2015.
The view looks toward the unilluminated side of Saturn’s rings from about minus 0.3 degrees below the ring plane.
Although the moon appears to be lurking above the rings here, it’s actually just an illusion resulting from the viewing angle. In reality, Epimetheus and the rings both orbit in Saturn’s equatorial plane.
