Image: Cassini captures group photo of Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas

Image: Cassini captures group photo of Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Three of Saturn's moons—Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas—are captured in this group photo from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Tethys (660 miles or 1,062 kilometers across) appears above the rings, while Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across) sits just below center. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across) hangs below and to the left of Enceladus.

This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 0.4 degrees above the . The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 3, 2015.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 837,000 miles (1.35 million kilometers) from Enceladus, with an image scale of 5 miles (8 kilometers) per pixel. Tethys was approximately 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers) away with an image scale of 7 miles (11 kilometers) per pixel.  Mimas was approximately 1.1 million miles (1.7 million kilometers) away with an image scale of 6 miles (10 kilometers) per pixel.

Provided by NASA

Citation: Image: Cassini captures group photo of Tethys, Enceladus and Mimas (2016, February 23) retrieved 18 April 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-02-image-cassini-captures-group-photo.html
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