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Tethys drifts above Saturn
Science & Exploration

Tethys drifts above Saturn

09/01/2006 864 views 1 likes
ESA / Science & Exploration / Space Science / Cassini-Huygens

This image of the moon Tethys was taken by the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on 3 December 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.5 million kilometres from Saturn.

Tethys (1071 kilometres across) is seen floating in front of the massive, golden-hued globe of Saturn in this colour view. The thin, dark line of the rings curves around the horizon at top.

Visible on Tethys are the craters Odysseus (top) and Melanthius (bottom). The view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Tethys.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural colour view. The edge of the planet appears fuzzy, which may indicate that we are seeing haze layers that are separated from the main cloud deck.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operative project between NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency.

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