Amazing Photos of Saturns Moon, Enceladus by Cassini
March 13, 2008
The Cassini spacecraft was sent to dive through an ice geyser on Saturn’s moon Enceladus last night. Pictures were radioed back to Earth late last night and NASA personnel were able to process and upload the raw images to their website early this morning.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft had a deliberate near-miss with Enceladus on Wednesday afternoon, passing about 31 miles above its surface at a speed of more than 32,000 miles per hour. Over the next couple of years, Cassini is to swing by another seven times, scrutinizing this little moon more than all of the 50-odd others circling Saturn, except perhaps Titan.
The flyby is a risky maneuver. If just one millimeter-size piece of debris hits the spacecraft, it could be the end of the mission. But the chance to fly within 31 miles of the moon and 398 miles of the geyser’s plume was just too tempting.
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