X

Images: Plumes on Saturn's moon

The Cassini orbiter cameras capture images from the surface of Enceladus.
By Bill Detwiler, Contributor
13666.jpg
1 of 3 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET

Cassini shots of Enceladus

Recent images from the Cassini orbiter and its and its two onboard cameras show Saturn's moon Enceladus. The images, backlit by the sun, show the fountain-like sources of the fine spray of material that towers over the south polar region.

This image was taken looking more or less broadside at the "tiger stripe" fractures observed in earlier Enceladus images. It shows discrete plumes of a variety of apparent sizes above the limb of the moon.

13667.jpg
2 of 3 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET

Enceladus

Enceladus is a target of intense interest to Cassini mission scientists. Its wrinkled and frozen crescent is seen here with Saturn's rings. The planet's dark shadow bisects the ringscape.

The illuminated terrain seen here is on the moon's trailing hemisphere. The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini narrow-angle camera on Oct. 13, 2005 at a distance of approximately 1.2 million kilometers (700,000 miles) from Enceladus.

13668.jpg
3 of 3 Bill Detwiler/ZDNET

Tiger stripes

This image was taken looking more or less broadside at the "tiger stripe" fractures observed in earlier Enceladus images.

The greatly enhanced and colorized image shows the enormous extent of the fainter, larger-scale component of the plume.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Related Galleries

Holiday wallpaper for your phone: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and winter scenes
Holiday lights in Central Park background

Related Galleries

Holiday wallpaper for your phone: Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, and winter scenes

21 Photos
Winter backgrounds for your next virtual meeting
Wooden lodge in pine forest with heavy snow reflection on Lake O'hara at Yoho national park

Related Galleries

Winter backgrounds for your next virtual meeting

21 Photos
Holiday backgrounds for Zoom: Christmas cheer, New Year's Eve, Hanukkah and winter scenes
3D Rendering Christmas interior

Related Galleries

Holiday backgrounds for Zoom: Christmas cheer, New Year's Eve, Hanukkah and winter scenes

21 Photos
Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6: Electric vehicle extravaganza
img-8825

Related Galleries

Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6: Electric vehicle extravaganza

26 Photos
A weekend with Google's Chrome OS Flex
img-9792-2

Related Galleries

A weekend with Google's Chrome OS Flex

22 Photos
Cybersecurity flaws, customer experiences, smartphone losses, and more: ZDNet's research roundup
shutterstock-1024665187.jpg

Related Galleries

Cybersecurity flaws, customer experiences, smartphone losses, and more: ZDNet's research roundup

8 Photos
Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'
Full of promises!

Related Galleries

Inside a fake $20 '16TB external M.2 SSD'

8 Photos