NASA’s Cassini spacecraft currently orbiting Saturn has captured a breathtaking new image of Enceladus, the sixth-largest of the gas giant’s moons.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft returned a breathtaking image of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Enceladus. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 4 degrees to the right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
The image was captured using Cassini’s narrow-angle camera in visible light in November 2016.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 41,000 miles (66,000 km) from Enceladus.
Enceladus was discovered on August 28, 1789 by the English astronomer William Herschel.
The icy moon has a diameter of only 314 miles (505 km), about a tenth of that of Titan.
It orbits at 112,000 miles (180,000 km) from Saturn’s cloud tops.
Enceladus is a world divided:
(i) to the north, we see copious amounts of craters and evidence of the many impacts the moon has suffered in its history;
(ii) however, to the south we see a smoother body with wrinkles due to geologic activity.
Most solar system bodies lacking an atmosphere are heavily cratered like Enceladus’ northern region.
However, the geologic activity in the south, including the famous plume above the frozen moon’s south pole, can erase craters and leave a younger, smoother-looking surface.
Because Enceladus reflects almost 100% of the sunlight that strikes it, the surface temperature is extremely cold, about minus 201 degrees Celsius.
