This dramatic scene from Cassini illustrates an array of processes on
Saturn's moon Enceladus, a once geologically active world. Most of the
larger craters appear to have softened from their original, presumably
crisp appearance, and are cross-cut here by numerous faults.
Cassini acquired this high-resolution view of Enceladus during its
closest encounter yet with any moon of Saturn.
Toward the bottom of the scene, terrain containing fractured and softened
craters gives way to essentially non-cratered terrain consisting of
tectonic faults.
The softened craters, fractured plains and wrinkled terrain on Enceladus
suggest geologic activity has taken place in several episodes during the
satellite's history. This activity might continue into the present time,
although imaging team scientists have seen no evidence for current
activity on the moon.
Illumination of the scene is from the left. The image was obtained in
visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 14,
2005, at a distance of about 11,500 kilometers (7,150 miles) from
Enceladus, and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 46
degrees. The image scale is 67 meters (220 feet) per pixel. The image's
contrast has been enhanced to aid visibility of surface features.
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.
For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org.
