24.11.09

Snowball Fountain

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Image source with more information

So it seems that on my birthday Cassini dove close to Enceladus for its eight flyby. The eighth, huh? Well, there won't be much different or exciting to look at, for this one, surely? Just more scientific data that may eventually contribute towards unravelling the mysteries of this very interesting world.

Or so you might have thought! Instead, we find that the Cassini imaging team have snapped some gorgeous close-up (well, within a few thousand kilometres) shots of the moon's geysers in action. This is also our last peak at the south pole of Enceladus before it enters winter and several years of darkness.

You can find some more images and some amateur-assembled mosaics at the Planetary Society blog here.

1 comment:

Tinker said...

How cool that Cassini sent that photo in time for your birthday.
But - did you say several years of darkness/winter? ! And I thought our polar regions had a long winter...
I can barely handle three months (and we have mild, sunny winters).