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This raw, unprocessed image of Prometheus was taken by Cassini on Jan. 27, 2010.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 36,000 kilometers (23,000 miles) from Prometheus and at a Sun-Prometheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 85 degrees. Image scale is 217 meters (713 feet) per pixel.
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: January 28, 2010
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An unusual camera angle. The images from December are far more definitive of Prometheus' true shape.
To me, the left boundary of the "central bulge" looks like a "weld", where a somewhat smaller "moon" impacted and stuck. The ruduced cratering at that curved boundary may be shrouded to some extent by the accumulating ring "snow", but still seems like a reletively new "melded" feature. Just me?
The alien look of Prometheus is at least fascinating...
Up close, Prometheus resembles a fossilized tool carved by prehistoric man!
You really can't fool me. The Jan. 28 image labeled "Prometheus -Rev 125" is really a well-done fried egg tossed in the air by an artistic cook.
mic1303: The white specks are cosmic ray hits on the CCD detector...a well-known phenomenon.
JimRinX: Picking up white fluffy stuff indeed....but not from Enceladus...from the F ring!!
Hi Team! Question. What are the white specks (?) in the background? They even appear to be on the moon itself. Are they ring particles? Prometheus almost looks transparent on one side! Great work!
I don't know which way 'forward' - orbitally speaking - is; but it almost looks like Prometheus is picking up some of white fluffy stuff from the Geysers on Enceladus; rather like Iapetus has been.
Too bad, that: I was hoping for a Giant Obelysk with a STAR GATE inside it, i don't know about you!
Oh,yes....great work Cassini team!
