SATURN DAILY SPACE DAILY TERRA DAILY MARS DAILY MOON DAILY SPACE TRAVEL SPACE WAR ENERGY DAILY
  Saturn News  
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
  
Search All Our Sites at SpaceBank
A Tale Of Two Moons

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 21, 2006
Many moons in the Saturnian system wear a uniformly gray mantle of darkened ice, but not these two. The brightest body in the solar system, Enceladus, is contrasted here against Titan's smoggy, golden murk.

Ironic, but what these two moons hold in common gives rise to their stark contrasting colors. Both bodies are, to varying degrees, geologically active.

For Enceladus, its southern polar vents emit a spray of icy particles that coats the small moon, giving it a clean, white veneer.

On Titan, yet undefined processes are supplying the atmosphere with methane and other chemicals that are broken down by sunlight.

These chemicals are creating the thick yellow-orange haze that is spread through the atmosphere and, over geologic time, falls and coats the surface.

The thin, bluish haze along Titan's limb is caused when sunlight is scattered by haze particles roughly the same size as the wavelength of blue light, or around 400 nanometers.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft took images using red, green and blue spectral filters and combined them to create this natural color view. The images were obtained on Feb. 5 using Cassini's narrow-angle camera at a distance of 4.1 million kilometers (2.5 million miles) from Enceladus and 5.3 million kilometers (3.3 miles) from Titan.

Resolution in the original images was 25 kilometers (16 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 32 kilometers (20 miles) per pixel on Titan. The view has been magnified by a factor of two.

Related Links
Cassini at JPL
Cassini Image Team

Uncovering Rhea
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jun 21, 2006
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured two Saturnian moons meeting in the sky: Dione departs after crossing the face of Rhea for several minutes. Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across), at right, has a notably smoother-looking surface than Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), suggesting the former has been modified more recently.






Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar News
  • Three Trojan Asteroids Share Neptune Orbit
  • New Horizons Crosses The Asteroid Belt
  • Trio Of Neptunes And Their Belt
  • New Model Could Explain Eccentric Triton Orbit

  • Spirit Continues Work As Martian Winter Deepens
  • Mission Simulations Begin For Phoenix Mars Lander
  • Pace Quickens For New Mars Orbiter
  • Opportunity Hits Five-Mile Mark

  • Venus Express Commissioning Phase Completed
  • Venus Express Reaches Final Mission Orbit
  • Venus Express Transmits First Images
  • Europe Places Spacecraft In Orbit About Venus

  • Early Mercury Impact Showered Earth
  • The SIXS Instrument By Finnish Astronomers Goes To Mercury
  • Messenger Engine Burn Puts Spacecraft On Track For Venus
  • Messenger Assembly Under Way Messenger Project

  • Gas Giants Consistently Larger Than Their Moons
  • Two Great Jovian Storms Converging
  • The Pull Of Jupiter
  • Hubble Takes Sharpest Shot Yet Of New Red Spot On Jupiter

  • Ultraviolet Stripping Creates Super Earth Sized Planets
  • FUSE Finds Young Solar System Awash In Carbon
  • Astronomers Find Planets With No Stars
  • Like Planet, Like Sun

  • GMV To Provide Mission Planning Software For Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
  • NASA Spies Lunar Meteoroid Impact
  • Shanghai Lands Star Role In Satellite Mission
  • The Sky Is Falling

  • GeoEye Awarded Airport Mapping Database Contract
  • NGOs Using Satellite Imagery To Plan Agriculture Relief Efforts
  • ESA And Spot Image Set Precedence With Data Sharing
  • High-Flying Satellites Give Land Managers The Low-Down On Cheatgrass

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement