CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS

Enceladus "Rev 120" Flyby Raw Preview #3
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Enceladus "Rev 120" Flyby Raw Preview #3
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   This raw, unprocessed image of Enceladus was taken by Cassini on Nov. 1, 2009.

The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 1, 2009.

The Cassini Equinox Mission is a joint United States and European endeavor. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini Equinox Mission visit http://ciclops.org, http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Released: November 2, 2009
Image/Caption Information


Alliance Member Comments
carolyn (CICLOPS) (Nov 5, 2009 at 7:28 PM):
Dragon: We, the imaging team, have been saying for years that the plume extends thousands of kilometers above the south pole of Enceladus, and then it moves into the E ring. So that result is not new.
Dragon_of_Luck_Mah_Jonng1971 (Nov 5, 2009 at 5:32 PM):
being across more than Enc's diameter this size was rather unexpected to me. There our spacecraft flew at only about 100 km of altitude that I could call it a low plume passage indeed. )

I think that this flyby is an important one in order to find out what is happening below Enc's crust at its south polar area.
Dragon_of_Luck_Mah_Jonng1971 (Nov 5, 2009 at 5:17 PM):
( A side note: In this flyby's blog they wrote recently that the plume's extension is at least 1000 km ( about 600 miles ) over the south pole
illexsquid (Nov 3, 2009 at 12:36 PM):
This image most clearly separates the major eruption points, but also shows a great deal of fine detail within each one, as well as many discrete minor sources on Enceladus. The level of detail visible within the fountains far surpasses what I remember from previous flybys. Is this because experience has taught the Cassini crew how to optimize exposure, or just a consequence of resolution/angle of view?

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