Ringside with Rhea
Explanation:
Orbiting in the plane of Saturn's rings,
Saturnian moons have a perpetual
ringside view of the gas giant planet.
Of course, while passing near the ring plane
the Cassini spacecraft also shares
their stunning perspective.
The thin rings themselves slice across the middle of
this Cassini snapshot from April 2011.
The scene looks toward the dark
night side of Saturn, in the frame at the
left, and the still sunlit side of the rings from just above the
ringplane.
Centered, over 1,500 kilometers across,
Rhea is
Saturn's second largest moon and
is closest to the spacecraft, around 2.2 million kilometers away.
To Rhea's right, shiny, 500 kilometer diameter
Enceladus is about 3 million kilometers distant.
Dione, 1,100 miles wide,
is 3.1 million miles from Cassini's camera
on the left, partly blocked by Saturn's night side.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
