Saturn System Bashny.Net

The device "Cassini", orbiting Saturn since 2004, continues to study the gas giant and its complex system consisting of thousands of rings and several dozen satellites. In October, he made another closer to Enceladus, one of the most interesting moons of the Solar System. This time he flew less than 100 kilometers of the southern hemisphere. This was done in order to "Cassini" could use all the "heavy artillery" Spectrometers for geysers in the icy satellite faults. But the general public perepalo some great pictures of this satellite.





Infrared image of Saturn in false color. Sometimes pictures of space objects are painted with artificial flowers to increase the contrast details. This was done, and this image received "Cassini" October 6, 2011. Due to the special treatment we can see many details in the atmosphere of Saturn



Enceladus. This photograph shows the southern regions of the satellite (35 degrees south latitude, 45 degrees west longitude). Enceladus - one of the most geologically active moons of the Solar System. Scientists suggest the existence of liquid water ocean beneath an icy, mottled bark cracks and fractures of the satellite. In this image, received on 13 September 2011, Enceladus appeared from a distance of only 42,000 km.

Moon of Saturn. Enceladus and Tethys, two fairly large moon of Saturn, were in sight of the cameras, "Cassini" September 13, 2011. Satellite Tethys is seen at the bottom of the picture. It seems that the Tethys is in the foreground. It is really so: at the time of the shooting distance to Tethys was 208,000 km away, and Enceladus - 272000 km. Tethys also twice the size of Enceladus, 1,062 km against 504. Saturn's rings provide, as always, a unique atmosphere.



During the flyby of Enceladus on October 1 "Cassini" witnessed a curious picture. The small moon of Saturn Helen leaned out of Enceladus appears as a thin crescent. The rings give this film an incredible lightness. I must say that "Cassini" often finds a picture like this. Saturn more than six dozen satellites, and therefore there is nothing surprising in the fact that at times they hide for each other.



Hyperion. September 16 probe "Cassini" flew past one of the strangest of Saturn's moons, Hyperion. The surface of the small (only about 270 km in diameter) satellite similar to a sponge. Another feature of Hyperion is its chaotic rotation around its own axis. Because of this, it is difficult to predict in advance which part of the satellite cameras turn to "Cassini" during their next rendezvous.



The shadows of the rings. After the equinox, which was on Saturn in 2009, the gas giant spring began. The shadows of the rings with each month are becoming wider and creeping farther south. This image obtained by wide-angle camera spacecraft "Cassini" August 22, 2011, when the probe is slightly above the plane of the rings. Survey was conducted in the near-infrared light (wavelength - 939 nm) from a distance of 405 thousand. Km.



Just four moons of Saturn are seen in this picture, "Cassini". The largest moon, Titan, with a diameter 5,150 km shrouded in a dense atmosphere. Dion slightly raised above the plane of the rings; compared with the hazy Titan Dione rather bright object. Other two satellites have got this picture, rotate in the plane of Saturn's rings. It is a small Pandora (right of the rings) with a diameter of 81 km and very tiny Pan diameter of 28 km. It can be found in the Encke gap on the left in the picture. Pan and Pandora - satellites shepherds. They seem to "graze" the particles of Saturn's rings, not allowing them to go to the side.



October 1, 2011 "Cassini" was just 62 miles above the surface of Enceladus and sent to Earth a series of shots of this highly interesting companion. Many raw photos taken by "Cassini", amateur astronomers are processed, and then appear in the public domain on the Internet. It - one of those shots.



Titan and Dione limb of Saturn. Photo received October 18, 2011 the spacecraft "Cassini". At the time of the shooting distance to Titan was 2, 58 million kilometers. The camera lens also has got a bright star that can be seen between the rings of Saturn.



Above Enceladus. The picture is the south pole of Enceladus was obtained device nearly a year ago, on November 30, 2010. But last month he was treated and painted. Before we offer a fantastic view: sunlit jet of gas rise to hundreds of kilometers above the icy surface. Remotely similar to the beams of searchlights jet - the result kriovulkanicheskoy activity on the surface of Enceladus. This water is a real water pressure escaping from cracks in the ice cover of the satellite.

Source: trasyy.livejournal.com