This very detailed image taken during the Cassini spacecraft's closest
approach to Saturn's moon Dione on Dec. 14, 2004 is centered on the wispy
terrain of the moon. To the surprise of Cassini imaging scientists, the
wispy terrain does not consist of thick ice deposits, but rather the
bright ice cliffs created by tectonic fractures.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were
designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at
the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit,
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page,
http://ciclops.org.