Stunning New Images From Cassini's Close Flyby of Rhea

By Nancy Atkinson - January 13, 2011 at 12:11 AM UTC | Planetary Science
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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Rhea, Saturn's rings and some sister moons. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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Jia-Rui C. Cook from the Cassini team

sent out an alert

that raw images from Cassini's closest flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea have begun streaming to Cassini's raw image page, and they are well worth a look. At closest approach, Cassini came within about 69 kilometers (43 miles) of Rhea's surface on Jan. 11. But there's also some interesting group photos from within the Saturn System. One of the best is this image, above. How many moons can you find? I probably wouldn't have seen them all but

Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Blog

spied five moons and the rings in this one wide-angle shot. The large moon is Rhea; above Rhea and just below the rings, is Dione; above and to the left of Rhea is Tethys. Then there are two tiny moons: squint hard to see Prometheus as tiny lump on the rings to the left of Dione, and Epimetheus is hovering between Tethys and Rhea. See some more, including closeups of Rhea and Saturn's storm, below.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Rhea dwarfs Dione, which appears to be stuck on Saturn's rings. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="X marks the spot on Rhea. NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Closeup of Rhea's craters. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The storm on Saturn is spreading, as seen in this latest image taken on January 12, 2011 by Cassini. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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See more at Cassini's raw image page.

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