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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Moons Beyond Rings at Saturn
APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 4 Jan, 2022 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, Cassini Imaging Team

Posted on 01/04/2022 2:28:36 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: What's happened to that moon of Saturn? Nothing -- Saturn's moon Rhea is just partly hidden behind Saturn's rings. In 2010, the robotic Cassini spacecraft then orbiting Saturn took this narrow-angle view looking across the Solar System's most famous rings. Rings visible in the foreground include the thin F ring on the outside and the much wider A and B rings just interior to it. Although it seems to be hovering over the rings, Saturn's moon Janus is actually far behind them. Janus is one of Saturn's smaller moons and measures only about 180 kilometers across. Farther out from the camera is the heavily cratered Rhea, a much larger moon measuring 1,500 kilometers across. The top of Rhea is visible only through gaps in the rings. After more than a decade of exploration and discovery, the Cassini spacecraft ran low on fuel in 2017 and was directed to enter Saturn's atmosphere, where it surely melted.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: nasa
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 01/04/2022 2:28:36 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 01/04/2022 2:28:51 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; America_Right; AZ .44 MAG; BBB333; ...
Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔


3 posted on 01/04/2022 2:29:34 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Very cool.


4 posted on 01/04/2022 2:29:45 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: MtnClimber

Puppy is “low on fuel”...


5 posted on 01/04/2022 2:38:07 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (Get out of the matrix and get a real life.)
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To: Repeal The 17th; MtnClimber
After more than a decade of exploration and discovery, the Cassini spacecraft ran low on fuel in 2017 and was directed to enter Saturn's atmosphere, where it surely melted.


6 posted on 01/04/2022 2:52:42 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: MtnClimber

Amazing!


7 posted on 01/04/2022 3:36:50 PM PST by M_Continuum
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To: MtnClimber

Very cool! Wonder why Cassini doesn’t photograph in color?


8 posted on 01/04/2022 4:40:21 PM PST by wildwoodla
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To: wildwoodla

They charge extra for that.................


9 posted on 01/05/2022 5:29:15 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Red Badger

Hahaha!


10 posted on 01/05/2022 8:48:06 AM PST by wildwoodla
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To: Repeal The 17th

Yes, he could have hidden behind “melted” just as easily.


11 posted on 01/05/2022 10:10:44 AM PST by gloryblaze
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