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Zooming In On Enceladus
The Cassini spacecraft captured these images of Saturn's moon Enceladus on July 14, 2005. From a distance, Enceladus appears to have a mixture of softened craters and complex, fractured terrains. This image is a mosaic of 21 separate images taken with Cassini's narrow-angle camera. This false-color view was created with imagery taken in a variety of wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Scientists are able to see features of the surface when using different wavelengths. A leading explanation for the difference in color is that the walls of the fractures expose outcrops of coarse-grained ice that are free of the powdery surface materials that mantle flat-lying surfaces. The images were taken at distances ranging from 61,300 to 11,100 kilometers (38,090 to 6,897 miles). The Cassini spacecraft left Earth in 1997 and entered Saturn's orbit in July 2005. Scientists hope to keep Cassini orbiting Saturn for at least four years. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute Download Wallpaper: 800 x 600 | 1024 x 768 Return to galleries: Earth | Solar System | Stars & Galaxies | Spaceflight & Spacecraft
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