|
|
So close and yet so far...
|
The Cassini spacecraft delivers this stunning vista showing small, battered Epimetheus and smog-enshrouded Titan, with Saturn's A and F Rings stretching across the scene. The prominent dark region visible in the A-Ring is the Encke Gap, in which the moon Pan and several narrow ringlets reside. Moon-driven features that mark the A-Ring are easily seen to the left and right of the Encke Gap. The Encke Gap is about 325 Km (approx. 200 miles) wide. Pan is approx. 26 Km (about 16 miles) across. In an optical illusion, the narrow F-Ring, outside the A-Ring, appears to fade across the disk of Titan. A couple of bright clumps can be seen in the F-Ring. Epimetheus is approx. 116 Km (about 72 miles) across and giant Titan is roughly 5.150 Km (about 3.200 miles) across.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 28, 2006, at a distance of approx. 667.000 Km(about 415.000 miles) from Epimetheus and 1,8 MKM (about 1,1 MMs) from Titan. The image captures the illuminated side of the rings. The image scale is 4 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel on Epimetheus and 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel on Titan.
|
|