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NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute
The Saturnian moon Rhea stars in an image captured by the Cassini orbiter during a flyby on Tuesday, but several other moons play supporting roles, along with Saturn's nearly edge-on rings. The moon Dione is just below Rhea and just above the rings. Tethys is to the right of Rhea, below the ring plane. Epimetheus appears as a speck in space between Rhea and Tethys. And the shepherd moon Prometheus is barely visible as a bump in the rings, just to the right of Dione.
Raw images of Saturn's icy moon Rhea captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during this week's flyby are delighting space enthusiasts and scientists.
In the image above, Rhea takes center stage, though Saturn's rings and three other moons make a cameo appearance. Below Rhea, just above the rings, is Dione. The moon Tethys is the larger circle in the lower right, while Epimetheus is the smaller dot to the right of Rhea and Dione. If you look closely, Prometheus is barely distinguishable as a speck embedded in the rings to the right of Dione.
Other images from the flyby show Rhea's cratered and fractured surface up close, which will allow scientists studying the images to understand just how often meteoroids bombard Rhea:
The Cassini orbiter's wide-angle camera took this image of Rhea as it flew past at a distance of about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the Saturnian moon's surface.
In addition, NASA noted in an image advisory, scientists using fields and particles instruments are looking through their data to see if they gleaned any more information about Rhea's thin oxygen-and-carbon-dioxide atmosphere and the interaction between Rhea and the particles within Saturn's magnetosphere.
The scientific value of the data aside, the Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla, says the raw images left her "drooling." For more views of the icy moon, check out her post here.
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
Keep it up Cassini! That is one amazing little space-probe!
Very nice.
Very cool
Amazing!
Saturn has got to be the most interesting system ever discovered, it, in and of itself, demands a whole lot more probes dedicated to it. I would think it should be the first recipient of a deep space relay station replete with universal access so other space agencies can coordinate science missions through it....I have said for decades that whilst we struggle with congress to get funding to build ever larger particle colliders, saturn is already up and running, a whole encyclopedia of sciences awaits the first civilization brave enough to get up and personal in it's study. I am thankful nasa was wise (or lucky) enough to of made us the first civilization (that we know of) to at least start to study it seriously. I wonder how Rhea is pronounced...like my name I hope, but I had pronounced it differently till I know better. Lastly, I hold out great hope for enceladous as a prime transperminator and of course wish that some administration somewhere will bar BP from shipping large transport ships full of ethane back to earth for profit...I know it is inevitable, but I have small glimmers of hope that it is not bp or exxon-mobil....it would just suit me fine if they resurrected the whole earth catalog company and they brought back hydrocarbons for our growing industrial appetite. The craters in the picture seem to have a bit of sand dune nature to them...
Rhea is pronounced "ray-uh."
If its a witch, you would add "the coos" after the name (with respect to Steven King and the Dark Tower).
Ray, by 'civilization' and 'first civilization' you're referring to the inhabitants of Earth I would gather. Methinks you need to get out more.
Great photo's. Cool and not just talking about the moon.
Some of the hills look like pingos common to Earth's tundra.
Whew... for a second there I thought the article stated that the new pictures "will allow scientists studying the images to understand just how often metroids bombard Rhea" and I was like, sh*t sh*t, you guys! Quick, we have to call Samus! But then I reread the sentence and it became clear that they were referring to meteoroids.
I breathe a sigh of relief that Earth is still safe from the machinations of Mother Brain... for now.
Haha. I wonder how many people know what you're talking about. Ridley is most likely hiding in these photos somewhere...
Awesome! How much oxygen and how much carbon dioxide? Where is the oxygen coming from?
Sherri, according to Ben Teolis at the Southwest Research Institute (San Antonio), the oxygen density is about 5 trillion times less than that on Earth. Teolis told the BBC that the oxygen is produced by particles carried in Saturn's magnetic field slamming into the surface of Rhea, breaking apart water molecules in the ice, thereby liberating the oxygen. The oxygen leaks continually into space, but is replaced by more oxygen from the surface.
Or, of course, it could be from all those alien motherships . . .
Excellent stuff !!