Image Cache: The Cassini-Huygens mission released a stunning new picture of Saturn’s moon Enceladus at half phase.
Browse through the cool photos, animations and diagrams in Gizmodo’s Image Cache here.
From the Cassini team:
This half-lit view of Enceladus bears a passing resemblance to similar views of Earth’s own natural satellite, but the similarities end there. Earth’s rocky moon is covered in dark, volcanic basins and brighter, mountainous highlands — both exceedingly ancient. The surface of icy Enceladus is uniformly bright, far brighter than Earth’s moon. Large areas of Enceladus’ surface are characterised by youthful (on geologic timescales), wrinkled terrains.
This image was taken back on 8 September 2015 at a distance of 128,750km from the Moon.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute