Saturn: the "Ringed Beauty" and His Moons
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Japetus-PIA08384-2.jpgThe Other Side of Japetus (possible natural colors; elab. Lunexit)54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Enceladus-N00093658.jpgFountains in the Darkness...54 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Tethys_and_Calypso-PIA09735.jpgTethys and Calypso53 visiteCaption NASA:"Two companion moons share the sky before the Cassini Spacecraft. Tethys is seen here with one of its two Trojan moons. Calypso, which trails the larger moon in its orbit by 60°, is a couple of pixels across near lower right. Telesto (not pictured) is the other Tethys co-orbital moon, leading Tethys by 60°.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 25, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 2,2 MKM (about 1,4 MMs) from Tethys.
Image scale is roughly 13 Km (about 8 miles) per pixel on Tethys".MareKromium
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Tethys-PIA09737.jpgCrescent Tethys53 visiteCaption NASA:"The pockmarked crescent of Tethys displays slightly darker terrain in a band at its Equator. The rim of the great crater Odysseus lurks on the Terminator.
Lit terrain seen here is on the Leading Hemisphere of Tethys. North is up.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Aug. 29, 2007. The view was obtained at a distance of approx. 56.000 Km (such as about 35.000 miles) from Tethys and at a Sun-Tethys-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 105°.
Image scale is roughly 3 Km (about 2 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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Saturn-PIA09734.jpgTurbulences53 visiteCaption NASA:"The Cassini Spacecraft has a peek beneath the hazes in Saturn's Upper Atmosphere at the swirling vortices that lurk below.
Many vortices can be seen in this image, varying in size from small to large.
The largest one in this image exhibits a collar of bright clouds surrounding the central dark core.
The view is centered on a region about 46° South of the Planet's Equator.
The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 12, 2007 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 750 nanometers. The view was acquired at a distance of approx. 4,1 MKM (such as about 2,5 MMs) from Saturn.
Image scale is roughly 24 Km (about 15 miles) per pixel".MareKromium
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Saturn-N00092694.jpgSaturnian Turbulence (Enhanced Natural Colors; credits for the additional process. and color.: Dr Paolo C. Fienga - Lunexit Team)53 visiten.a.d.MareKromium
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Japetus-Orbit-00.jpgSide view of Japetus's orbit68 visiteThe orbit of Japetus is somewhat unusual. Although it is Saturn's third-largest moon, it orbits much farther from Saturn than the next closest major moon, Titan. It has also the most inclined Orbital Plane of the regular satellites; only the irregular outer satellites like Phoebe have more inclined orbits. The cause of this is unknown.
Because of this distant, inclined orbit, Japetus is the only large moon from which the Rings of Saturn would be clearly visible; from the other inner moons, the Rings would be edge-on and difficult to see.MareKromium
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Japetus-Orbit-01.jpgPolar view of Japetus's orbit53 visitenessun commentoMareKromium
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Japetus-PIA08375.jpgThe "Voyager" Mountains53 visiteCaption NASA:"Cassini zooms in, for the first time, on the patchy, bright and dark mountains originally identified in images from the NASA Voyager spacecraft taken more than 25 years earlier. The image was acquired during Cassini's only close flyby of Iapetus, a two-toned moon of Saturn.
The terrain seen here is located on the Equator of Japetus at approximately 199° West Longitude, in the Transition Region between the moon's bright and dark Hemispheres. North is up.
The image was taken on Sept. 10, 2007, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 9.240 Km (5.740 miles) from Japetus. Image scale is 55 meters (180 feet) per pixel".MareKromium
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Japetus-PIA08373.jpgThe "Transition Region" of Japetus: Coated Craters56 visiteCaption NASA:"Cassini surveys a bright landscape coated by dark material on Iapetus. This image shows terrain in the Transition Region between the moon's dark Leading Hemisphere and its bright Trailing Hemisphere. The view was acquired during Cassini's only close flyby of the two-toned Saturn moon.
The image was taken on Sept. 10, 2007, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 5.260 Km (3.270 miles) from Japetus. Image scale is 32 meters (105 feet) per pixel".MareKromium
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Japetus-PIA08374.jpgThe "Transition Region" of Japetus53 visiteCaption NASA:"Dark material splatters the walls and floors of craters in the surreal, frozen wastelands of Japetus. This image shows terrain in the Transition Region between the moon's dark Leading Hemisphere and its bright Trailing Hemisphere.
The view was acquired during Cassini's only close flyby of the two-toned Saturn moon.
The image was taken on Sept. 10, 2007, with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 6.030 Km (3.750 miles) from Japetus. Image scale is 36 meters (118 feet) per pixel".MareKromium
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Japetus-3D.jpgJapetus in 3D54 visiteCaption NASA:"This bizarre, equatorial ridge extending across and beyond the dark, Leading Hemisphere of Japetus gives the two-toned Saturnian moon a distinct walnut shape. With red/blue glasses you can check out a remarkable stereo composition of this extraordinary feature -- based on close-up images from this week's Cassini Spacecraft flyby.
In fact, the ridge's combination of equatorial symmetry and scale, about 20 Km wide and reaching up to 20 Km above the surface, is not known to be duplicated anywhere else in our Solar System. The unique feature was discovered in Cassini images from 2004. It appears to be heavily cratered and therefore ancient, but the origin of the equatorial ridge on Iapetus remains a mystery".MareKromium
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