Tethys from Cassini
The half-full Tethys hangs before Cassini’s narrow-angle camera in this image, taken 1 million miles (1.7 million km) from the satellite. Tethys is about 659 miles (1,060 km) across, and this image has a scale of roughly 6 miles (10 km) per pixel.
Saturn’s south pole in the infrared
A prominent dark spot marks Saturn’s South Pole. The Cassini spacecraft took this contrast-enhanced image on July 13, 2004, through a filter sensitive to infrared wavelengths. Cassini was 3.1 million miles (5 million kilometers) from Saturn at the time.
Detail of Saturn’s southern clouds
Irregular boundaries visible in Saturn’s southern polar region highlight the often turbulent nature of the planet’s cloud bands. Cassini snapped this infrared image on July 13, 2004.
New Saturn moon
On June 1, 2004, at a distance of 10.3 million miles (16.5 million kilometers) from Saturn, Cassini uncovered two new moons orbiting between Saturn’s moons Mimas and Enceladus.
This image shows the tiny “worldlet,” dubbed S/2004 S1, as it made its way around the planet. A white box frames the moon’s location in the picture. The image has not been cleaned of imaging artifacts, but has been greatly enhanced in contrast to increase visibility.
The size of S/2004 S1 is estimated to be about 2.5 miles (4 km) across. Because the moon is small and not resolved it appears as a faint point of light just barely visible above the background.
S/2004 S1 orbits at a distance of approximately 120,000 miles (194,000 km) from Saturn. More precise orbit size and shape, as well as any tilt the orbit might have relative to Saturn’s ring plane, will require the acquisition of future imaging observations by the Cassini cameras.
Hyperion
This image shows Saturn’s chaotically rotating little moon Hyperion. Shot on July 15, 2004, Cassini is scheduled to fly past this moon on September 26, 2005. The irregular shaped moon is about 165 miles (266 kilometers) across.
Cassini uncovers new moon
On June 1, 2004, at a distance of 10.3 million miles (16.5 million kilometers) from Saturn, Cassini uncovered two new moons orbiting between Saturn’s moons Mimas and Enceladus.
This image shows the tiny “worldlet,” dubbed S/2004 S2, as it made its way around the planet. A white box frames the moon’s location in the picture. The image has not been cleaned of imaging artifacts, but has been greatly enhanced in contrast to increase visibility.
The size of S/2004 S2 is estimated to be about 2.5 miles (4 km) across. Because the moon is small and not resolved it appears as a faint point of light just barely visible above the background.
Titan’s haze
This image of Titan reveals layers high in the moon’s atmosphere where photochemical reactions create distinct layers of haze. The detached layer, a separate purple band arcing above the pale moon’s limb in this false-color view, is about 75 miles (120 km) thick.
