Amazing views of Saturn’s icy moon Dione

[Panich52]

EarthLy


This view from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft looks toward Saturn’s icy moon Dione, with giant Saturn and its rings in the background, just prior to the mission’s final close approach to the moon on August 17, 2015. At lower right is the large, multi-ringed impact basin named Evander, which is about 220 miles (350 kilometers) wide. The canyons of Padua Chasma, features that form part of Dione’s bright, wispy terrain, reach into the darkness at left. Image credit: NASA

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft passed 295 miles (474 kilometers) above the surface of Saturn’s moon Dione on August 17, 2015 in the mission’s last close approach. This was the fifth close encounter with Dione during Cassini’s long tour at Saturn. The mission’s closest-ever flyby of Dione was in December 2011, at a distance of 60 miles (100 kilometers).

A pockmarked, icy landscape looms beneath the spacecraft in these new images of the small, icy world taken during the flyby.

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http://earthsky.org/space/amazing-views-of-saturns-icy-moon-dione?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=fc2b46c5e8-EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-fc2b46c5e8-393525109

[longship]

1. Cassini is an amazing craft.

Its mission will end in 2017 with it deliberately crashing into Saturn. They don't want it messing up any of the moons, especially Enceladus or Titan.

[dieter]

2. Glad to see we're being environmentally responsible somewhere.

Too bad we don't do that here on Earth.

[longship]

3. We are. Plenty of craft crash into Earth.

And the moon. Remember NASA to bomb the Moon thread?

[Bonobo]

4. We keep getting treated to better and better images, don't we?

It's great! Woohoo!