NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has begun returning its best-ever views of the northern regions of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Last week it passed just 1,839 kilometres above the surface. More images and data are expected over the next few days.
As expected the north polar region of Enceladus is heavily cratered, but the detailed imagery is giving scientists a more complete picture of the moon.
“The northern regions are crisscrossed by a spidery network of gossamer-thin cracks that slice through the craters,” said Paul Helfenstein, a member of the Cassini imaging team at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. “These thin cracks are ubiquitous on Enceladus, and now we see that they extend across the northern terrains as well.”
NASA has posted unprocessed images on the Cassini mission website at: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/enceladus20151014
See also: Could Saturn’s Moon Hold Life? and The Habitable Zone
Originally published by Cosmos as Cassini closes in on north pole of Enceladus
Bill Condie
Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.
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