Cassini Provides Stunning New Looks at Several Moons

By Nancy Atkinson - February 1, 2011 at 7:01 PM UTC | Planetary Science
Helene.jpg

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The Cassini spacecraft recently had a mini 'grand tour' of several of Saturn's moons and just sent back some great images of Helene, Mimas, Enceladus and Dione. Above is an amazing view of the Trojan moon Helene, which is only 32 kilometers (20 miles across) and shares an orbit with Dione. Cassini came withing 28,000 km (17,398 miles) of Helene. Thanks to

Stu Atkinson

for an enhanced version of this raw Cassini image. See one of the original raw images of Helene

here.

[caption id="attachment_83005" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="This image of Saturn's moon Enceladus was obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Jan. 31, 2011. It shows the famous jets erupting from the south polar terrain of Enceladus. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI"]

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Cassini captured several images of the plumes spewing from Enceladus, and other closeup views of the moon's terrain.

[caption id="attachment_83006" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Closeup of Enceladus from approximately 78,015 kilometers away. Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI"]

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[caption id="attachment_83007" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="This view shows the bright, icy Mimas in front of Saturn's delicate rings. Image credit: NASA/JPL/SSI"]

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[caption id="attachment_83008" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A crescent Dione was seen by Cassini on January 29, 2011 from approximately 767,922 kilometers away. Credit: NASA/JPL/SSI"]

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See more of the latest raw images at the Cassini website.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com