Light and Dark Titan

Light and dark halves of Titan are visible in this Cassini image which illustrates the seasonal changes in the northern and southern hemispheres. This picture was taken with a spectral filter that is sensitive to absorption of certain wavelengths of light by the methane present in the moon's atmosphere.

See PIA11603 to learn more about this seasonal hemispheric dichotomy. This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across). North on Titan is up and rotated 29 degrees to the right. The moon's north polar hood is also visible in the top right of the view (see PIA08137 and PIA11594).

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on January 31, 2012 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 890 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 130,000 miles (210,000 kilometers) from Titan and at a Sun-Titan-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 24 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (12 kilometers) per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Methone

N00189072.jpg was taken on May 20, 2012 and received on Earth May 21, 2012. The camera was pointing toward METHONE, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2013.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Note: For more information, see Cassini Spots Tiny Moon, Begins to Tilt Orbit.

Saturn and Tethys

Even in a peaceful looking scene such as this one of Saturn and its moon Tethys, the Cassini spacecraft reveals clues about how Saturn is ever-changing.

Saturn's northern hemisphere still shows the scars of the huge storm that raged through much of 2011 (see PIA14905). And, day by day, the shadows cast by the rings on the planet's southern hemisphere are growing wider as the seasons progress toward northern summer. See PIA11667 and PIA09793 to learn about the changing seasons and the shadows cast by the rings.

Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across) appears above the rings to the left of the center of the image.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on January 10, 2012 using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.4 million miles (2.3 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 39 degrees. Image scale on Saturn is 84 miles (136 kilometers) per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

The Surface of Tethys

N00189019.jpg was taken on May 20, 2012 and received on Earth May 21, 2012. The camera was pointing toward TETHYS at approximately 37,196 miles (59,861 kilometers) away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2013.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Note: For more information, see Cassini Spots Tiny Moon, Begins to Tilt Orbit.

Map of Dione (December 2011)

This global map of Saturn's moon Dione was created using images taken during flybys by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

An extensive system of bright ice cliffs created by tectonic fractures adorns the moon's trailing hemisphere, which is centered on 270 degrees west.

The map is a simple cylindrical (equidistant) projection and has a scale of 502 feet (153 meters) per pixel at the equator. The resolution of the map is 64 pixels per degree. The mean radius of Dione used for projection of this map is 350 miles (563 kilometers).

This map is an update to the version released in October 2010 (see PIA12814). This new map contains data from Cassini's December 12, 2011, flyby of Dione. Improved coverage is in the area around 45 degrees north latitude, 210 degrees west longitude.

Like other recent Dione global maps, this map has been shifted west by 0.6 degrees of longitude, compared to the 2006 version of the map (PIA08341), in order to conform to the International Astronomical Union longitude system convention for Dione.

The full unannotated tiff version can be downlinked here: PIA14914_full_2.tif. The full annotated tiff version PIA14914_full.tif. Photojournal note: these are large images and may be too large for some web browsers to handle. Users may right-click on the links to download the files to their desktop.

Map credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Notes: The above map is only a small-scale image of the actual map available for download; the actual map (jpg file) can be found here. The north polar map of Dione can be found here.

Golden Night on Saturn

Saturn's B and C rings shine in diffuse, scattered light as the Cassini spacecraft looks on the planet's night side. The southern hemisphere is lit by sunlight reflecting off the rings, while the north shines much more feebly in the dim light that filters through the rings and is scattered on the northern hemisphere.

The fine, innermost rings are seen silhouetted against the southern hemisphere of the planet before partially disappearing into shadow.

The color of the rings appears more golden because of the increased scattering in the rings brought about by the high phase angle and the view being toward rings' the unlit side. Saturn also looks more golden because of the high phase angle here.

Images taken using red, green and blue spectral filters were combined to create this natural color view. The images were obtained by the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on September 28, 2006 at a distance of approximately 1.4 million kilometers (900,000 miles) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 151 degrees. Image scale is 83 kilometers (51 miles) per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Daphnis, Pan and the Rings

Saturn's moons Daphnis and Pan demonstrate their effects on the planet's rings in this view from the Cassini spacecraft.

Daphnis (5 miles, or 8 kilometers across), on the left of the image, orbits in the Keeler Gap of the A ring. The moon's gravitational pull perturbs the orbits of the particles of the A ring forming the gap's edge and sculpts the edge into waves that move both in the ring's plane (radially) and out of the ring's plane. See PIA11655 and PIA12698 to learn more.

Pan (17 miles, or 28 kilometers across), in the top right of the image, orbits in the Encke Gap of the A ring. The effects of that moon's gravity can be seen as dark wakes on the parts of the rings below Pan in the image, propagating towards the middle of the image. See PIA07528 and PIA10529 to learn more.

This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 6 degrees below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 3, 2010. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 329,000 miles (529,000 kilometers) from Saturn. Image scale is 2 miles (3 kilometers) per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Janus

Shadows darken parts of some of Janus' large craters as Cassini takes a close look during its flyby of this Saturnian moon on March 27, 2012.

See PIA10447 and PIA12714 for higher resolution views of Janus (111 miles, or 179 kilometers across). See PIA08170 and PIA08348 to learn about how Janus periodically swaps orbits with Epimetheus.

This view is centered on terrain at 13 degrees south latitude, 26 degrees west longitude.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) from Janus and at a Sun-Janus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 109 degrees. Image scale is 892 feet (272 meters) per pixel.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Bright Material on Dione

N00186374.jpg was taken on May 2, 2012 and received on Earth May 3, 2012. The camera was pointing toward DIONE at approximately 15,183 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2013.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Dione and Rings

W00074064.jpg was taken on May 2, 2012 and received on Earth May 3, 2012. The camera was pointing toward DIONE at approximately 23,875 kilometers away, and the image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters. This image has not been validated or calibrated. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in 2013.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Wavy F-Ring

The constant change in Saturn's wavy, wiggly F ring is on display in this set of images obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The images show a view looking directly down onto the ring with the planet removed from the center. The radial distance from the center of the F ring has been exaggerated by a factor of 140 to make the wiggles and other radial structures more visible.

The regular patterns here primarily occur because of the gravitational pull of the moon Prometheus, which averages about 53 miles or 86 kilometers in diameter. Prometheus can create channels and snowballs as they part and push together icy F ring particles. These regular wiggles are about 65 miles (100 kilometers) from top to bottom.

Other processes are also at work. In the top left image, the object known as S/2004 S 6 – which may be a moonlet or just a dense clump – has produced an extended trail of material that can be seen at the top left of the image. A close-up of this event can be seen in PIA08863. In some of the images (bottom row, middle and right image), a bright spiral ring is visible. This was caused by an object, possibly S/2004 S 6, colliding with the main F ring and producing a trail of particles that subsequently sheared right around the planet. These events give the F ring its multi-stranded appearance.

Cassini's narrow-angle camera obtained the images in the top row on December 23, 2006; February 27, 2007 and March 17, 2007 (left to right). In the bottom row, the images were obtained on April 18, 2007; January 7, 2008 and February 24, 2008.

The F ring is the outermost of Saturn's main rings, with a radius of about 87,129 miles (140,220 kilometers).

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/QMUL

Tethys, Enceladus and Saturn

A pair of Saturn's many moons joins the planet in this Cassini spacecraft scene.

Tethys (660 miles, or 1,062 kilometers across) appears as a small white dot above the rings on the far left of the image. Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers across) appears as a smaller bright speck beside the planet as seen from this vantage point. The rings cast wide shadows on the planet's southern latitudes.

This view looks toward the southern, unilluminated side of the rings from about 1 degree below the ringplane.

The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on January 19, 2012. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers) from Saturn and at a Sun-Saturn-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 63 degrees. Image scale is 104 miles (167 kilometers) per pixel on Saturn.

Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute