Jupiter & 3 moons by Stuart Goldstraw on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Animation of Jupiter & 3 moons over 3 hours Jan 14th 2012 taken with Flextube Auto Dobsonian 250 and DFK.
Enceladus, Saturn’s Moon
Below a darkened Enceladus, a plume of water ice is backlit in this view of one of Saturn’s most dramatic moons.
Dramatic plumes, both large and small, spray water ice from many locations along the moon’s famed “tiger stripes” near the south pole of Enceladus. The tiger stripes are fissures that spray icy particles, water vapor and organic compounds.
The terrain seen here is on the leading hemisphere of Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers across). North is up. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 20, 2012. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 83,000 miles (134,000 kilometers) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 165 degrees. Image scale is 2,628 feet (801 meters) per pixel.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
NASA Image of the Day Gallery
Rhea Before Titan
Craters appear well defined on icy Rhea in front of the hazy orb of the much larger moon Titan in this Cassini spacecraft view of these two Saturn moons.
Lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemispheres of Rhea and Titan. North on the moons is up and rotated 13 degrees to the left. The limb, or edge of the visible disk, of Rhea is slightly overexposed in this view.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 10, 2011. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.2 million miles (2 million kilometers) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 109 degrees. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 810,000 miles (1.3 million kilometers) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 109 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (12 kilometers) per pixel on Titan and 5 miles (8 kilometers) per pixel on Rhea.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
NASA Image of the Day Gallery
Moons with a view
1. In this view, the moon Rhea (1,530km wide) is on the far side of the rings. Much smaller Prometheus (86km wide) is on the nearside, orbiting between the main portion of the rings and the thin outer F ring. Camera distance to Rhea: approx. 1.6 million km. Camera distance to Prometheus: approx. 1 million km.
2. The cratered and cracked moon Dione (1,120km wide) seems to hang suspended in place in front of Titan (5,150km wide) in the background. Camera distance to Dione: approx 1.8 million km. Camera distance to Titan: approx. 2.7 million km.
3. Dione, in the foreground of this image, appears darker than the moon Tethys (1,070km wide). Tethys appears brighter because it has a higher albedo than Dione, meaning Tethys reflects more sunlight. Camera distance to Dione: approx. 1.2 million km. Camera distance to Tethys: 1.8 million km.
4. Saturn’s moon Epimetheus (86km wide) moves in front of the larger moon Janus (179km wide) as seen by the Cassini spacecraft. Camera distance to Epimetheus: approx. 2.1 million km. Camera distance to Janus: 2.2 million km.
5. In this image, Janus is on the far side of Saturn’s rings. Prometheus is on the nearside, orbiting in the gap between the main rings and the outer, thin F ring. Camera distance to Janus: approx. 1.1 million km. Camera distance to Prometheus: 1 million km.
Images courtesy of NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.
Titan & Rhea (12-10-11) by Lights In The Dark on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Color-composite of Saturn’s moons Titan and Rhea, made from raw images acquired by Cassini on December 10, 2011.
Credit: NASA / JPL / SSI. Edited by J. Major.
Shadows on the Move by NASAJPL on Flickr.
Via Flickr:
Shadows cast onto Saturn by its rings, visible here as dark bands, move steadily towards the equator and grow thinner as equinox approaches.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
