Prime Time For Rhea

SATURN DAILY

Prime Time For Rhea

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. See larger image.

Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 18, 2005
This map of the surface of Saturn's moon, Rhea, illustrates the regions that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's close flyby of the moon on Nov. 26, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft is expected to pass approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the moon's surface.

The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing resolutions, listed in the legend at bottom. Rhea is 1,528 kilometers (949 miles) across.

The new high-resolution coverage will examine details on the anti-Saturn hemisphere of Rhea, including two large impact basins there. Cassini previously imaged terrain farther to the south of this at approximately 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel in August 2005 (see PIA07566). Imaging scientists also hope to get a high-resolution view of a relatively young 50-kilometer-wide (30-mile) crater on the moon's leading hemisphere (see PIA06648).

Planetary scientists are interested in learning about the compositional makeup of Rhea, other than water ice, as well as the nature of the wispy streaks on the moon's trailing hemisphere. In December, 2004, Cassini revealed that similar bright, wispy markings on Dione are actually a system of braided tectonic fractures (see PIA06162).

The map was made from images obtained by both the Cassini and NASA Voyager spacecraft.

SATURN DAILY

Graceful Lanes Of Ice

Pasadena CA (JPL) Nov 16, 2005
The dark Cassini Division, within Saturn's rings, contains a great deal of structure, as seen in this color image. The sharp inner boundary of the division (left of center) is the outer edge of the massive B ring and is maintained by the gravitational influence of the moon Mimas.

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