First Images From 50-km Enceladus Flyby

CheshireCatCO writes "The first pictures from yesterday's flyby of Enceladus are now public. At closest approach, Cassini was set spinning to cancel out the apparent motion of Enceladus so as to capture unsmeared images during the 40,000-mph flyby. Although it wasn't clear that this would work (errors in pointing could easily have made the cameras miss their targets), the maneuver panned out beautifully, producing spectacular images of the surface. Images show the 'tiger stripes' at the south pole, including at least one location that has been identified as a source of a jet, as well as considerable vertical relief, easily visible thanks to the low sun-angle near the south pole at present. Processed, enhanced images should follow shortly."

Comments

Re:As someone who works daily with Cassini data

[speedtux]

What's "useful" about space bases? Why does putting a bunch of smelly humans into a can and orbiting them around earth help science or mankind?

Re:science and perspective, and what a pity

[Illbay]

I love it. The "agenda" is destruction of terrorists, which is exactly what has been happening. Yet idiots such as yourself gripe about ONE GUY who no one even knows if he's alive or dead anyway, and who is not in any position to do anything about it.

(Yet your messiah, B. Hussein Obama, insists that all the "bad guys" from the 1993 WTC attacks are "incapacitated." Yeah, right).