The Moon from Cassini-Huygens - Lunar fly-by of Aug., 18, 1999

Una serie di tre fotogrammi montati in sequenza e relativi al passaggio ravvicinato ("fly-by") della Sonda Cassini-Huygens accanto alla Luna. Era il 18 Agosto 1999. Ed eccoVi la "original caption" relativa a questo evento, dal "NASA Picture of the Day" del 10 Settembre 1999: "...the Cassini spacecraft flew by the Earth and Moon, then continued on its way to the outer solar system. Near its closest approach to the Moon, a distance of about 377.000 Km, controllers tested Cassini's imaging systems on this most familiar celestial body. This composite picture shows three resulting lunar images from the green, blue, and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum (left to right). Prominant in the upper right of each image is the dark, round Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises) at the eastern edge of the Moon's near side. With its cameras clearly functioning well, Cassini's (...) expected to arrive at its final destination, the Saturnian system, in 2004".
La storia, come sapete, ha avuto un lieto finale.