Astronomy Picture of the Day |
APOD: 2009 January 11 - In the Shadow of Saturn
Explanation:
In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear.
The
robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's
shadow for about 12 hours and looked
back toward the
eclipsed Sun.
Cassini saw a view unlike any other.
First, the
night side of Saturn
is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own
majestic ring system.
Next, the rings themselves appear dark when
silhouetted against Saturn,
but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn,
slightly scattering sunlight, in this
exaggerated color image.
Saturn's rings light up so much that
new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the
image.
Seen in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's
E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered
ice-fountains of the moon
Enceladus and the outermost ring visible above.
Far in the
distance,
at the left, just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable
pale blue dot
of Earth.
APOD: 2008 December 22 - Labtayt Sulci on Saturns Enceladus
Explanation:
Do some surface features on Enceladus roll like a
conveyor belt?
A leading interpretation of
recent images taken of Saturn's
most explosive moon indicate that they do.
This form of asymmetric
tectonic activity, very unusual on Earth,
likely holds clues to the internal structure of
Enceladus,
which may contain subsurface seas where
life might be able to develop.
Pictured above is a composite of 28 images taken by the robotic
Cassini spacecraft in October just after swooping by the
ice-spewing orb.
Inspection of these images show clear
tectonic displacements
where large portions of the surface all appear to
move all in one direction.
Near the top of the image appears one of the most prominent tectonic divides:
Labtayt Sulci,
a canyon about one kilometer deep.
APOD: 2008 November 5 - Seventeen Hundred Kilometers Above Enceladus
Explanation:
Above is one of the closest pictures yet obtained of
Saturn's ice-spewing moon Enceladus.
The image
was taken from about 1,700 kilometers up as the
robotic
Cassini spacecraft zoomed by the
fractured ice ball last week.
Features the size of a
bus
are resolvable in this highly detailed image taken of
Enceladus'
active tiger stripe region.
Very different from most other moons and planets,
grooves and hills
dot an alien moonscape devoid of
craters.
Space pioneers might wonder where, on such a highly textured surface, a future probe might land in search of freshly deposited ice,
subsurface seas, or even indicators of
life.
Although appearing dark in the above contrast-enhanced image, the surface of
Enceladus is covered with some of the brightest ice in the entire Solar System, reflecting about 99 percent of the light it receives.
To help better understand this
enigmatic world, Cassini is scheduled to
swoop by Enceladus at least five more times.
APOD: 2008 October 14 - An Enceladus Tiger Stripe from Cassini
Explanation:
What creates the unusual tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus?
No one is sure.
To help find out, scientists programmed the robotic
Cassini spacecraft
to dive right past the
plume-spewing moon last week.
Previously, the
tiger stripe regions
were found to be expelling plumes of water-ice, fueling
speculation that liquid seas might occur beneath
Enceladus'
frozen exterior.
Such seas are so interesting because they are
candidates to contain extraterrestrial life.
Important processes in tiger
stripe formation may include
heating from below and
moonquakes.
Visible above is terrain on Enceladus so young that only a few craters are visible.
This newly released raw image shows at least
one type of false artifact, however, as seeming
chains of craters are not so evident in
other concurrently released images of the same region.
The large
tiger
stripe across the image middle is impressive not only for its length and breadth,
but because a large internal
shadow
makes it also appear quite deep.
Cassini will
next fly by Enceladus on October 31.
APOD: 2008 October 13 - Cassini Passes Through Ice Plumes of Enceladus
Explanation:
What telling impurities taint the ice plumes of Enceladus?
To help answer this question, the robotic
Cassini spacecraft dove last week to within 30 kilometers of Saturn's ice-plume emitting moon.
At this closest-ever approach, Cassini attempted to sniff and obtain chemical data on particles ejected from Enceladus' regular surface,
while at other times Cassini flew right through -- and sampled --
ice geysers directly.
Searches in the data
for impurity clues in the water-ice dominated plumes and
surface ejecta are progressing.
Although the main purpose of this flyby was
particle analysis, several
interesting images are emerging.
Visible in the
above image, for example, is an unusual gray sheen running vertically up the image center that might be water vapor escaping from
surface canyons.
Other notable features
visible above include vast plains of craterless
icy grooves, the day-night
terminator
across the image left,
and an area near the top comparatively rich in craters.
Cassini is
scheduled to buzz by
Enceladus
in an imaging run near the end of this month.
APOD: 2008 July 20 - Crescent Rhea Occults Crescent Saturn
Explanation:
Soft hues, partially lit orbs, a thin trace of the ring, and slight shadows highlight this understated view of the majestic surroundings of the giant planet Saturn.
Looking nearly back toward the Sun, the
robot Cassini
spacecraft now orbiting Saturn captured
crescent phases of
Saturn and its
moon Rhea in color a few years ago.
As striking as the
above image is, it is but a single frame from a recently released
60-frame silent movie where Rhea can be seen gliding in front of its parent world.
Since Cassini was nearly in the plane of
Saturn's rings, the normally impressive rings are visible here only as a
thin line across the image center.
Although Cassini has now concluded its
primary mission,
its past successes and opportunistic location have prompted
NASA to start a two-year
Equinox Mission, further exploring not only Saturn's enigmatic moons
Titan and
Enceladus, but Saturn herself as her grand
rings tilt right at the Sun in August 2009.
APOD: 2008 March 31 - Close Up of Enceladus Tiger Stripes
Explanation:
Could life exist beneath Enceladus?
A recent flyby of Saturn's icy moon has bolstered this fascinating idea.
Two years ago, images from the
robotic
Cassini spacecraft orbiting
Saturn led astronomers to the undeniable conclusion that Saturn's moon Enceladus was
spewing fountains
of gas and ice crystals through cracks in its surface dubbed
tiger stripes.
Last month, Cassini dove through some of these
plumes and
determined that they contained water vapor laced with small amounts of
methane as well as simple and complex
organic molecules.
Surprisingly, the plumes of Enceladus appear similar in make-up to many
comets.
What's more, the temperature and density of the
plumes indicate they might have originated from a warmer source --
possibly a liquid source -- beneath the surface.
A liquid water sea containing organic molecules is a good place to look for life.
Pictured above
is a vertically exaggerated close-up of some long, venting tiger stripes.
The computer composite was generated from
images and shadows
taken during
recent Cassini flybys.
Nine more flybys of
Enceladus by Cassini are planned.
APOD: 2008 March 17 - Thirty Thousand Kilometers Above Enceladus
Explanation:
What does the surface of Saturn's ice-spewing moon Enceladus look like?
To help find out, the
robotic Cassini
spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn was sent
soaring past the
cryovolcanic
moon and even right through one of Enceladus'
ice plumes.
Cassini closed to about 52 kilometers during its closest encounter to date.
The above unprocessed image
was taken looking down from the north, from about 30,000 kilometers away.
Visible
are at least two types of terrain.
The first type of terrain has more craters than occur near
Enceladus' South Pole.
The other type of terrain has few craters but many
ridges and grooves that may have been created by
surface-shifting
tectonic activity.
Exogeologists are currently poring over this and other
Cassini images
from last Wednesday's flyby to better understand the moon's patch-work surface, its unusual
ice-geysers, and its potential to support life.
Cassini is scheduled to fly by Enceladus at least nine more times, including an even closer pass of just 25 kilometers this coming October.
APOD: 2007 December 17 - Saturn's Ancient Rings
Explanation:
How old are Saturn's rings?
No one is quite sure.
One possibility is that the rings formed relatively recently in our
Solar System's history, perhaps only about 100 million years ago when
a moon-sized object
broke up near Saturn.
Evidence for a young ring age includes a basic
stability
analysis for rings,
and the fact that the rings are so bright and
relatively unaffected by numerous small dark
meteor impacts.
New
evidence, however, raises the possibility that some of
Saturn's rings
may be billions of years old and so almost as
old as Saturn itself.
Inspection of images by the Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft
indicates that some of
Saturn's ring particles temporarily
bunch and collide, effectively recycling
ring particles by bringing
fresh bright ices to the surface.
Seen here,
Saturn's rings were imaged in their true colors by the
robotic
Cassini in late October.
Icy bright Tethys,
a moon of Saturn likely brightened by a sandblasting
rain of ice from sister moon
Enceladus, is visible in front of
the darker rings.
APOD: 2007 October 13 - Enceladus Ice Geysers
Explanation:
Ice geysers erupt on
Enceladus,
bright and shiny inner moon of Saturn.
Shown in
this
false-color image, a backlit view of the moon's southern
limb, the majestic, icy plumes were discovered by
instruments on the Cassini Spacecraft during close encounters
with Enceladus in November of 2005.
Eight source locations
for these geysers have now been identified
along substantial
surface fractures
in the moon's south polar region.
Researchers suspect the
geysers
arise from near-surface
pockets of liquid water with
temperatures
near 273 kelvins (0 degrees C).
That's hot when compared to the distant
moon's surface temperature of 73 kelvins (-200 degrees C).
The cryovolcanism
is a dramatic sign that tiny,
500km-diameter Enceladus is surprisingly active.
Enceladus ice geysers also likely produce Saturn's faint but extended E
ring.
APOD: 2007 March 27 - Enceladus Creates Saturns E Ring
Explanation:
The active moon Enceladus appears to be making Saturn's E ring.
An amazing picture
showing the moon at work was taken late last year by the Saturn-orbiting
Cassini spacecraft and is
shown above.
Enceladus
is the dark spot inside the bright flare, right near the center of
Saturn's E ring.
Streams of ice and water vapor can be seen
pouring off Enceladus into the E ring.
The above bright image of the normally faint
E-ring was made possible by aligning Cassini so that
Saturn blocked the Sun.
From that perspective, small ring particles reflect incoming
sunlight more efficiently.
Cassini has now been orbiting Saturn for almost three years, and is
scheduled to swoop by the unexpectedly
cryovolcanic
Enceladus at least several more times.
APOD: 2007 January 31 - Movie: Cassini Crosses Saturn's Ring Plane
Explanation:
What would the rings of Saturn look like if you passed right through the ring plane?
To find out, NASA aimed cameras from the
Cassini spacecraft right at
Saturn's rings as the
robotic explorer passed from the sunlit side of the rings to the
shadowed side.
Resulting images from a vantage point outside the rings and most moons,
but inside the orbit of Titan,
have been gathered together in the
above time-lapse movie.
The dramatic movie
demonstrates that ring particle density and
reflectivity makes some parts of the shadowed side nearly the
photographic negative
of the sunlit side, but nearly empty regions remain continually dark.
Visible also are Saturn-orbiting moons
Enceladus,
Mimas,
Janus,
Epimetheus,
Prometheus, and
Pandora.
The extreme
thinness of Saturn's rings
can be appreciated from frames taken near the crossing time.
APOD: 2006 December 31 - A Year of Extraterrestrial Fountains and Flows
Explanation:
The past year was extraordinary for the discovery of extraterrestrial
fountains and flows
-- some offering new potential in the search for liquid water and the origin
of life beyond planet Earth..
Increased evidence was uncovered that
fountains spurt not only from
Saturn's moon Enceladus, but from the
dunes of Mars as well.
Lakes were found on
Saturn's moon Titan, and the residual of a
flowing liquid was discovered on the
walls of Martian craters.
The diverse
Solar System
fluidity may involve forms of slushy water-ice,
methane, or
sublimating
carbon
dioxide.
Pictured
above, the
light-colored path below the image center is hypothesized
to have been created sometime in just the past few years by
liquid water flowing across the surface of
Mars.
APOD: 2006 October 16 - In the Shadow of Saturn
Explanation:
In the shadow of Saturn, unexpected wonders appear.
The
robotic Cassini
spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn recently drifted in giant planet's
shadow for about 12 hours and looked back toward the
eclipsed Sun.
Cassini saw a view unlike any other.
First, the
night side of Saturn
is seen to be partly lit by light reflected from its own
majestic ring system.
Next, the rings themselves appear dark when
silhouetted against Saturn,
but quite bright when viewed away from Saturn and
slightly scattering sunlight, in the
above exaggerated color image.
Saturn's rings light up so much that
new rings were discovered, although they are hard to see in the above image.
Visible in spectacular detail, however, is Saturn's
E ring, the ring created by the newly discovered
ice-fountains of the moon
Enceladus, and the outermost ring visible above.
Far in the
distance,
visible on the image left just above the bright main rings, is the almost ignorable
pale blue dot of Earth.
APOD: 2006 June 27 - The Moving Moons of Saturn
Explanation:
The moons of Saturn never stop.
A space traveler orbiting the
ringed giant planet
would witness a continuing
silent dance where Saturn's
multiple moons pass near each other in numerous combinations.
Like a miniature
Solar System,
the innermost moons
orbit Saturn the fastest.
The above movie was centered on Saturn's moon
Rhea, so that the moons
Mimas and
Enceladus appear to glide by.
At 1,500 kilometers across,
Rhea
is over three times larger than the comparably sized
Mimas and
Enceladus.
The Sun illuminates the scene from the lower right,
giving all of the moons the same
crescent phase.
The above time lapse movie was created by the Saturn-orbiting robotic
Cassini spacecraft
over a period of about 40 minutes.
APOD: 2006 June 8 - Enceladus Ice Volcanos
Explanation:
In this stunning Saturnian vista - one in a series of
artist's visions of
volcanos on alien worlds - icy geysers erupt
along narrow fractures in inner moon
Enceladus.
The majestic plumes were actually
discovered by
instruments on the Cassini Spacecraft during close encounters
with bright and shiny Enceladus last year.
Researchers now suspect the
plumes originate from near-surface
pockets of liquid water with
temperatures
near 273 kelvins (0 degrees C) - hot when compared to the distant
moon's surface temperature of 73 kelvins (-200 degrees C).
A dramatic sign that tiny, 500km-diameter Enceladus is
surprisingly
active, these ice volcanos hold out another potential
site in the search for water and origin of life beyond planet Earth.
Enceladus' ice
volcanos also likely produce
Saturn's faint but extended E
ring.
APOD: 2006 May 3 - Saturn in Blue and Gold
Explanation:
Why is Saturn partly blue?
The
above picture
of Saturn approximates what a
human
would see if hovering close to the giant ringed world.
The above picture
was taken in mid-March by the robot
Cassini spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn.
Here Saturn's majestic rings appear directly only as a thin vertical line.
The rings show their complex structure in the dark shadows they create on the image left.
Saturn's fountain moon Enceladus,
only about 500 kilometers across, is seen as the bump in the plane of the rings.
The northern hemisphere of
Saturn can appear partly blue for the same reason that
Earth's skies can appear blue -- molecules in the cloudless portions
of both planet's atmospheres are better at scattering blue light than red.
When looking deep into
Saturn's clouds, however, the natural
gold hue of Saturn's clouds becomes dominant.
It is not known why southern Saturn does not show the same blue hue --
one hypothesis holds that clouds are higher there.
It is also
not known why Saturn's
clouds are colored gold.
APOD: 2006 March 22 - Enceladus Near Saturn
Explanation:
Some images of Saturn appear surreal.
Earlier this year, the robot
spacecraft Cassini
now orbiting Saturn took this
surreal image of the gas giant
Saturn, its majestic
rings, and its enigmatic world
Enceladus all in one frame.
Enceladus, recently found to
emit jets of ice from
possible underground seas,
appears white as its surface is covered with relatively clean water-ice.
Below Enceladus are the rings of Saturn, seen nearly
edge on.
Compared to Enceladus, Saturn's rings show their comparatively high density of dirt with their golden-brown color in
this natural color image.
The planet Saturn, in the background, appears
relatively featureless
with the exception of thin ring shadows visible on the upper left.
The terminator
between night and day is seen vertically across the face of this distant world.
APOD: 2006 March 10 - Enceladus and the Search for Water
Explanation:
Based on data from
Cassini spacecraft instruments, researchers are
now arguing that liquid water reservoirs exist
only tens of meters below the surface of Saturn's
small (500 kilometer diameter) but active moon
Enceladus.
The exciting new results
center around towering jets and plumes of material
erupting from the moon's surface.
The plumes originate in the long
tiger stripe fractures of
the south polar region
pictured
here.
Detailed models suport conclusions that the
plumes
arise from near-surface pockets of liquid water at
temperatures
of 273 kelvins (0 degrees Celsius), even though Enceladus has a
surface
temperature of about 73 kelvins (-200 degrees Celsius).
Clearly an important step in the search for water and the potential
for the origin of
life beyond planet Earth,
such near-surface reservoirs of water would be far more accessible
than, for example, the internal ocean detected on the Jovian moon
Europa.
APOD: 2005 December 19 - Thin Rings Around Polarized Saturn
Explanation:
How thin are the rings of Saturn?
Brightness measurements from different angles have shown
Saturn's rings
to be about one kilometer thick, making them many times thinner,
in relative proportion, than a razor blade.
This thinness sometimes appears in
dramatic fashion
during an image taken nearly along the ring plane.
The robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn
has now captured another shot that dramatically highlights the ring's thinness.
The above artistic looking image was taken early last month in
infrared
polarized light.
If alone in space, the unlit part of Saturn would be much darker.
Reflection of light off of moons like
Enceladus (pictured) and the billions of small
particles in Saturn's rings, however, gives the
giant space orb an unusual glow, an effect highlighted in polarized light.
APOD: 2005 December 5 - Ice Fountains Discovered on Saturns Enceladus
Explanation:
Fountains of ice shoot out from Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Clear
discovery
images
of the fountains were made using observations from the
robot Cassini spacecraft
currently orbiting
Saturn.
During a recent pass, Cassini was programmed to look back toward
the Sun where
Enceladus
would appear as a thin crescent.
From this vantage point, particles emitted from the surface
would better show themselves by reflecting sunlight.
The tactic was successful --
the above frame shows several plumes emanating from
regions
previously known
to contain gashes in the surface dubbed
tiger stripes.
Cassini detected an increase in particle emissions from these
regions during a July flyby.
Some of these ice particles likely contribute to the make up of Saturn's
mysterious E ring.
APOD: 2005 September 6 - Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturns Enceladus
Explanation:
The tiger stripes on Saturn's moon Enceladus might be active.
Even today, they
may be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space,
creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole
and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring.
Recent evidence for this has come from the
robot Cassini spacecraft now orbiting
Saturn.
Cassini detected a marked increase in particle collisions
during its July flyby only 270 kilometers over a South Polar region of
Enceladus.
Pictured above,
a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from the close flyby.
The unusual surface features dubbed
tiger stripes are visible on the left in false-color blue.
Why
Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon
Mimas,
approximately the same size, appears
quite dead.
APOD: 2005 June 6 - Saturn: Dirty Rings and a Clean Moon
Explanation:
Eating surface ice from Enceladus might be healthier
than eating ice from Saturn's rings -- it certainly appears cleaner.
From their apparent densities and reflectance properties, both the
rings of Saturn and its shiniest moon,
Enceladus,
are thought to be composed predominantly of
water ice.
For reasons that are not yet understood, however, many of
Saturn's ring particles have become partly coated with some
sort of relatively dark dust, while the surface of
Enceladus appears comparatively bright and clean.
The contrast between the two can be seen in the
above image taken last month by the
robot Cassini spacecraft now in
orbit around
Saturn.
Bright Enceladus shines
in the background in contrast to the darker foreground rings.
The reason why Enceladus is so bright is currently
unknown but might involve bringing fresh water to its surface with
water volcanoes.
APOD: 2005 April 18 - Saturnian Moon and Rings
Explanation:
When can a robot produce
art?
When it glides past the
rings of Saturn.
As the robot spacecraft Cassini orbiting
Saturn
crossed outside the famous photogenic ring plane of the
expansive planet, the rings were imaged from the outside,
nearly edge on, and in the
shadow of Saturn.
From the upper left, ring features include the
A ring, the Cassini gap, the
B ring, and the darker
C ring that includes the
Titan gap and a
gap yet unnamed.
Last month when the
above image was taken, the gliding spacecraft was about one million kilometers from foreground
Enceladus,
a small Saturnian moon
only about 500 kilometers across.
Cassini is scheduled to continue its 70 orbit tour of
Saturn over the next three years, sending back
images of the gas giant,
its rings, and its moons that will be studied for decades to come.
APOD: 2005 March 17 - Enceladus Close Up
Explanation:
The surface of Enceladus is as white as
fresh snow.
Still, an
impressive variety of terrain is revealed in
this
contrast enhanced image.
At a resolution of about 30 meters per pixel, the close-up view
spans over 20 kilometers -
recorded during the touring
Cassini spacecraft's March
flyby of the icy Saturnian moon.
Enceladus is
known to be the most reflective moon in the
solar system, and the recent Cassini encounters have also
detected the
presence
of an atmosphere, making Enceladus the
second moon of Saturn with such a
distinction.
In fact, Enceladus' fresh looking surface and
significant
atmosphere both indicate that the tiny, 500 kilometer
diameter moon is active.
Researchers suspect that
ice volcanos or geysers
coat the surface
with fresh material and replenish the moon's atmosphere,
ultimately providing the icy particles that
compose Saturn's
tenuous E ring.
APOD: 2005 February 24 - Ski Enceladus
Explanation:
Small, icy, inner
moon of Saturn,
Enceladus is only about 500 kilometers
in diameter.
But the distant world does reflect over 90 percent
of the sunlight it receives, giving its surface about the
same reflectivity as fresh snow.
Seen
here in a sharp view from the
Cassini spacecraft's recent
flyby, Enceladus
shows a variety of surface features and very few impact craters -
indicating that it has been an active world even though
this tiny moon should have completely cooled off long ago.
In fact, the resurfaced appearance of
Enceladus could be the
result of liquid water geysers or
water
volcanos.
Since Enceladus orbits within the outer E ring
of Saturn,
the moon's surface may be kept snow-bright as it is continuously
bombarded with icy ring particles.
Eruptions
on Enceladus itself would in turn supply material
to the E ring.
Interplanetary
ski bums take
note: tiny Enceladus has only about 1/100th
the surface gravity of planet Earth
and a surface temperature of -200 degrees C (-330 degrees F).
APOD: 2003 August 17 - Natural Saturn On The Cassini Cruise
Explanation:
What could you see approaching Saturn aboard an
interplanetary cruise ship?
Your view would likely resemble
this
subtly shaded image of the gorgeous ringed gas giant.
Processed by the Hubble
Heritage project, the picture intentionally
avoids overemphasizing color contrasts and presents a
natural looking Saturn
with cloud bands, storms, nearly
edge-on rings, and the small round shadow
of the moon Enceladus near the center of the planet's disk.
Of course, seats were not available on the only ship currently
en route, the
Cassini
spacecraft.
Cassini flew by
Jupiter at the turn of the millennium and is
scheduled
to arrive at Saturn in the year 2004.
After an extended cruise to a world 1,400 million kilometers
from the Sun, Cassini will tour the
Saturnian
system, conducting a remote, robotic exploration
with software and instruments
designed by
denizens of planet Earth.
APOD: 2002 May 11 - Natural Saturn On The Cassini Cruise
Explanation:
What could you see
approaching
Saturn aboard an
interplanetary cruise ship?
Your view would likely resemble
this
subtly shaded image of the gorgeous ringed gas giant.
Processed by the Hubble
Heritage project, the picture intentionally
avoids overemphasizing color contrasts and presents a
natural looking Saturn
with cloud bands, storms, nearly
edge-on rings, and the small round shadow
of the moon Enceladus near the center of the planet's disk.
Of course, seats were not available on the
only ship currently enroute, the
Cassini
spacecraft.
Cassini flew by
Jupiter at the turn of the millennium and is
scheduled
to arrive at Saturn in the year 2004.
After an extended cruise to a world 1,400 million kilometers
from the Sun, Cassini will tour the
Saturnian
system, conducting a remote, robotic exploration
with software and instruments
designed by
denizens of planet Earth.
APOD: 2002 January 24 - Ski Enceladus
Explanation:
A small inner
moon
of Saturn, Enceladus is only about 500 kilometers
in diameter.
But the cold, distant world does reflect over 90 percent
of the sunlight it receives, giving its surface about the
same reflectivity as new-fallen snow.
Seen
here in a mosaic of
Voyager 2 images from 1981,
Enceladus shows a
variety of surface features and very few impact craters -
indicating that it is an active world even though this ice moon
should have completely cooled off
long ago.
In fact the fresh, resurfaced appearance of Enceladus suggests that
an internal mechanism, perhaps driven by tidal pumping, generates
heat and supplies liquid water to geysers
or water volcanos.
Since Enceladus orbits within the tenuous outer
E
ring of Saturn,
the moon's surface may be kept snow-bright as it is continuously
bombarded with icy ring particles.
Eruptions
on Enceladus itself would in turn supply material to the E ring.
Interplanetary
ski bums take
note: tiny Enceladus has only about one
hundredth the surface gravity of
planet Earth.
APOD: 2000 January 29 - Natural Saturn On The Cassini Cruise
Explanation:
What could you see
approaching Saturn aboard
an interplanetary cruise ship?
Your view would likely resemble
this subtly shaded image of the gorgeous ringed gas giant.
Processed by the
Hubble Heritage project, the picture intentionally
avoids overemphasizing color contrasts and presents a
natural looking Saturn
with cloud bands, storms,
nearly edge-on rings, and the small round shadow
of the moon Enceladus near the center of the planet's disk.
Of course, seats were not available on
the only ship currently enroute - the Cassini spacecraft,
launched in 1997 and
scheduled to arrive at Saturn in the year 2004.
After an extended cruise to a world 1,400 million kilometers
from the Sun,
Cassini will tour
the Saturnian system,
conducting a remote, robotic exploration
with software and instruments
designed by
denizens of planet Earth.
But where is Cassini now?
Still about 980 million kilometers from Saturn, last
Sunday the spacecraft flew by
asteroid 2685 Masursky.
APOD: November 5, 1998 - Natural Saturn On The Cassini Cruise
Explanation:
What you could see
approaching Saturn aboard
an interplanetary cruise ship would closely resemble
this subtly shaded view of the gorgeous ringed gas giant.
Processed by the
Hubble Heritage project, the picture intentionally
avoids overemphasizing color contrasts and presents a
natural looking Saturn
with cloud bands, storms,
nearly edge-on rings, and the small round shadow
of the moon Enceladus near the center of the planet's disk.
Of course, seats were not available on
the only ship currently enroute - the Cassini spacecraft,
launched just over a year ago and
scheduled to arrive at Saturn in the year 2004.
After an extended cruise to a world 1,400 million kilometers
from the Sun,
Cassini will tour
the Saturnian system,
conducting a remote, robotic exploration
with software and instruments
designed by
denizens of planet Earth.
APOD: October 18, 1998 - Saturns Rings Seen Sideways
Explanation:
Saturn's rings
are actually very thin.
This picture
from the
Hubble Space Telescope
was taken on August 6, 1995 when the rings lined up sideways as seen from
Earth.
Saturn's largest moon
Titan is seen on the left, and Titan's
shadow can be seen on
Saturn's cloud tops!
Titan itself looks a brownish color because of its thick atmosphere. Four
other moons of Saturn can be seen just above the ring plane, which are,
from left to right:
Mimas,
Tethys,
Janus, and Enceladus. If you look
carefully, you will note that the dark band across the planet is actually
the shadow of the rings, and is slightly displaced from the real
rings - which are best seen away from the planet.
Saturn's
rings are not solid - they are composed of ice chunks which range
in size from a grain of sand to a house.
APOD: May 24, 1997 - Saturn's Rings Seen Sideways
Explanation:
Saturn's rings
are actually very thin.
This picture
from the
Hubble Space Telescope
was taken on August 6, 1995 when the rings lined up sideways as seen from
Earth.
Saturn's largest moon
Titan is seen on the left, and Titan's
shadow can be seen on
Saturn's cloud tops!
Titan itself looks a brownish color because of its thick atmosphere. Four
other moon's of Saturn can be seen just above the ring plane, which are,
from left to right:
Mimas,
Tethys,
Janus, and Enceladus. If you look
carefully, you will note that the dark band across the planet is actually
the shadow of the rings, and is slightly displaced from the real
rings - which are best seen away from the planet.
Saturn's
rings are not solid - they are composed of ice chunks which range
in size from a grain of sand to a house.
APOD: April 29, 1996 - Saturn's Rings Seen Sideways
Explanation:
Saturn's rings
are actually very thin.
This picture
from the
Hubble Space Telescope
was taken on August 6, 1995 when the rings lined up sideways as seen from
Earth.
Saturn's largest moon
Titan is seen on the left, and Titan's
shadow can be seen on
Saturn's cloud tops!
Titan itself looks a brownish color because of its thick atmosphere. Four
other moon's of Saturn can be seen just above the ring plane, which are,
from left to right:
Mimas,
Tethys,
Janus, and Enceladus. If you look
carefully, you will note that the dark band across the planet is actually
the shadow of the rings, and is slightly displaced from the real
rings - which are best seen away from the planet.
Saturn's
rings are not solid - they are composed of ice chunks which range
in size from a grain of sand to a house.
APOD: November 25, 1995 - Saturn's Cleanest Moon: Enceladus
Explanation:
Enceladus orbits
Saturn between the smaller
Mimas and the larger
Tethys.
Enceladus is composed mostly of water ice and has the cleanest and purest
ice surface in the
Solar System. It's surface therefore appears
nearly white. The surface also has many unusual groves and relatively few
craters, like
Jupiter's moon
Ganymede. This indicates that the surface is young
and/or newly reformed. To explain this, some astronomers speculate that
Enceladus is susceptible to some sort of
volcanic activity. Enceladus was
originally discovered in 1789 by
William Herschel.