Suitable For Framing: Latest Eye Candy from Cassini

By Nancy Atkinson - October 10, 2011 at 4:03 PM UTC | Planetary Science
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Another Cassini stunner! This gorgeous, suitable-for-framing image shows two of Saturn's moons hanging below the planet's rings, as if strung on a necklace. Beautiful! Enceladus (504 kilometers, 313 miles across) appears just below the rings, while Tethys (1062 kilometers, 660 miles across) appears below. In this shot, Cassini is also closer to Tethys than Enceladus: the spacecraft is 208,000 kilometers (139,000 miles) from Tethys and 272,000 kilometers (169,000 miles) from Enceladus. This image was taken on September 13, 2011.

See below for some raw images from Cassini's October 1 close fly by of Enceladus, including a great shot of the moon hovering in front of Saturn's rings, and a view of the geysers.

[caption id="attachment_89735" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="A closeup view of Enceladus with Saturn's rings in the background. This raw image was taken on Oct. 1, 2011. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="attachment_89736" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A view of Enceladus from farther away, with the rings slicing through the view of Saturn in the background. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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[caption id="attachment_89737" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="A view of the geysers on Enceladus, from Cassini's latest close flyby of the moon, on October 1, 2011.Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute"]

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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