Craft flies through Saturn moon's plumes
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-14 15:02
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This three-image mosaic handout photo is the highest resolution view ever obtained of the north polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The view looks southward over cratered plains from high above the north pole of Enceladus. Cassini spacecraft took the image on March 12, 2008, when it flew over the surface of the moon as part of a joint US-European mission. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 20,000 miles (32,000 km) above Enceladus. [Agencies] |
LOS ANGELES -- The international Cassini spacecraft collected science data on mysterious geysers spewing from Saturn's moon Enceladus and recorded new images of its surface during a close flyby, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Thursday.
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This image released Thursday March 13, 2008 by NASA shows a close up view by the Cassini spacecraft of the Saturn moon, Enceladus' southern pole. NASA scientists say the data download has started from the Cassini spacecraft as it moves through geyser plumes from one of Saturn's moons, which began Wednesday. [Agencies]
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The pass Wednesday brought Cassini as close as 30 miles to the surface of the moon. It went through the icy geysers at 32,000 mph and an altitude of 120 miles, the lab said.
It's hoped that instrument data on density, size, composition and speed of plume particles will provide clues to whether there's a water ocean or organics inside the frozen moon. The geysers spew water vapor from fractures in the moon's south pole.
New pictures taken by Cassini show the surface of the north polar region is much older than the southern hemisphere and is pitted with craters, the lab said.
Cassini imaging scientist Carolyn Porco said the images provide an important comparison for "working out the moon's obviously complex geological history."
Porco, of the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., said the next big step will be getting detailed images of the surface sources of the plumes during a low-altitude flyby this summer.
The lab said that during Wednesday's flyby, one of Cassini's instruments, the Cosmic Dust Analyzer, had an unexplained software problem that prevented it from collecting data during closest approach, but it did collect data before and after. Other instruments functioned properly, it said.
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本帖最后由 tank82 于 2008-3-15 09:36 编辑 ]
