Image: Slim crescent of Enceladus

Image: Slim crescent of Enceladus
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

The low angle of sunlight along the slim crescent of Saturn's moon Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across) highlights the many fractures and furrows on its icy surface.

This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Enceladus, which is dimly illuminated in the image above by sunlight reflected off Saturn. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 14 degrees to the left. The image was taken in with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 26, 2016.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 104,000 miles (168,000 kilometers) from Enceladus. Image scale is 3,303 feet (1 kilometer) per pixel.

Provided by NASA

Citation: Image: Slim crescent of Enceladus (2017, May 23) retrieved 16 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2017-05-image-slim-crescent-enceladus.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Image: North pole of Enceladus

5 shares

Feedback to editors