Cassini Orbiter Sends Closest Northern Views Of Enceladus

Space





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Enceladus via the Cassini Orbiter's Imaging Science Subsystem - Wide Angle. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft completed the first of three final flybys of Saturn’s icy moon, Enceladus. On October 14, Cassini passed within 1,838 kilometers (1,142 miles) of Enceladus, providing unprecedented views of the moon’s north polar region. 

This marked Cassini’s 20th close flyby of the icy snowball-like moon since arriving at Saturn over a decade ago. A handful of images were downlinked yesterday in honor of the spacecraft’s 18th launch anniversary, with more to come over the next several days.