This view from Cassini contains not one, but two moons. Tethys is slightly overexposed so that the real target of this image, tiny Atlas, can be seen. Atlas is at image center, just outside the A ring.
A couple of faint ringlets are visible in the Encke Gap, right of center.
Tethys is 1,071 kilometers (665 miles) wide; Atlas is a mere 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 21, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) from Tethys and 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Atlas. The image scale is 12 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel on Tethys.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
The "flying saucer" in this image is the small moon Atlas (20 kilometers, 12 miles across), whose shadowy profile reveals its flattened shape. This image looks down onto the outer A ring, and through the Encke and Keeler gaps.
Two distinct, thin strands in the F ring are visible here, silhouetted against the planet. Saturn's extended, high-altitude haze is seen near lower right.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 2, 2005, at a distance of approximately 489,000 kilometers (304,000 miles) from Atlas and at a Sun-Atlas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 138 degrees. The image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org.
A small moon clings to the edge of Saturn's A ring. External to the moon is the thin and contorted F ring.
The flattened shape of Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) is just discernible. See PIA08405 for higher resolution views of Atlas.
This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 9 degrees above the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 8, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2.1 million kilometers (1.3 million miles) from Atlas. Image scale is 13 kilometers (8 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Voir l'image PIA09818: Atlas Alone sur le site de la NASA.
A new found ring of material, S/2004 1 R, in the orbit of Saturn's moon Atlas has been seen in this view of the region between the edge of Saturn's A ring and the F ring.
The image was taken by the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera on July 1, 2004, just after the spacecraft had crossed the ring plane following Saturn orbit insertion.
The maximum radial resolution is approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles) per pixel. The region from the A ring to the F ring spans some 3,500 kilometers (2,200 miles). The image has been enhanced to show the presence of faint ring material just beyond the edge of the A ring and in the orbit of Atlas (indicated by the red line in the image on the right). The moon Prometheus (102 kilometers or 63 miles across) can be seen close to the F ring at the lower left of the image.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras, were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information, about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org.
Saturn's little moon Atlas orbits Saturn between the outer edge of the A ring and the fascinating, twisted F ring. This image just barely resolves the disk of Atlas, and also shows some of the knotted structure for which the F ring is known. Atlas is 32 kilometers (20 miles) across.
The bright outer edge of the A ring is overexposed here, but farther down the image several bright ring features can be seen.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 25, 2005, at a distance of approximately 2.4 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Atlas and at a Sun-Atlas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 60 degrees. Resolution in the original image was 14 kilometers (9 miles) per pixel.
Voir l'image PIA06659: A Glimpse of Atlas sur le site de la NASA.
Shown here are the highest resolution images of the moons Pan and Atlas, showing their distinctive "flying saucer" shapes, owing to equatorial ridges not seen on the other moons of Saturn.
From left to right: a view of Atlas' trailing hemisphere, with north up, at a spatial scale of about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel; Atlas seen at about 250 meters (820 feet) per pixel from mid-southern latitudes, with the sub-Saturn hemisphere at the top and leading hemisphere to the left; Pan's trailing hemisphere seen at about 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel from low southern latitudes; an equatorial view, with Saturn in the background, of Pan's anti-Saturn hemisphere at about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel.
On Atlas, the ridge extends 20 to 30 degrees in latitude on either side of the equator; on Pan, its latitudinal extent is 15 to 20 degrees. Atlas shows more asymmetry than Pan in having a more rounded ridge in the leading and sub-Saturn quadrants.
The heights of the ridges can be crudely estimated by assuming (ellipsoidal) shapes that lack ridges and vary smoothly cross the equator. Heights of Atlas' ridge range from about 3 kilometers (2 miles) at 270 degrees west longitude to 5 kilometers (3 miles) at 180 and 0 degrees. Pan's ridge reaches about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) at 0 degrees west longitude, and is about 1.5 kilometers (0.9 mile) high over most of the rest of the equator.
The ridges represent about 27 percent of Atlas' volume and 10 percent of Pan's volume.
The images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera between 2005 and 2007. Pan is 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) across at its equator and 21 kilometers (13 miles) across at its poles; Atlas is 39 kilometers (24 miles) across at its equator and 18 kilometers (11 miles) across at its poles.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Voir l'image PIA08405: Saturn's Saucer Moons sur le site de la NASA.
The small ring moon Atlas is seen here, on the far side of Saturn's immense ring system. Cassini was only 0.6 degrees above the ring plane when this image was taken. Atlas is 32 kilometers (20 miles) across.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 11, 2005, at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (957,000 miles) from Atlas and at a Sun-Atlas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 100 degrees. Resolution in the original image was 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org.
The Cassini spacecraft finds oddly-shaped Atlas gliding along the edge of the A ring. The moon has a prominent equatorial bulge, which is accentuated here by the grazing viewing angle of Cassini, making Atlas appear pointy.
Cassini images revealed in 2004 that a faint ring of material coincides with the orbit of Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across). See PIA06113 for more about "the Atlas ring."
This view looks upward, toward the lit side of Saturn's rings.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 30, 2006 at a distance of approximately 283,000 kilometers (176,000 miles) from Atlas. Image scale is 2 kilometers (1 mile) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
The Cassini spacecraft gazes toward the multiple strands of the ever-changing F ring, also sighting Atlas at its station just beyond the A ring edge.
A few faint background stars are visible in the image. Atlas, which appears left of center, is 32 kilometers (20 miles across).
This view looks toward the unlit side of the rings from about 58 degrees above the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 10, 2007 at a distance of approximately 1.7 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Atlas and at a Sun-Atlas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 128 degrees. Image scale is 10 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Atlas, seen here, is one of the two moons that ply the Roche Division—the region between Saturn's A and F rings. Prometheus also orbits within this division.
This view looks toward flying-saucer-shaped Atlas (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across at its widest point) and the unilluminated side of the rings from about 37 degrees above the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 9, 2008. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.5 million kilometers (925,000 miles) from Atlas and at a Sun-Atlas-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 44 degrees. Image scale is 9 kilometers (6 miles) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Voir l'image PIA09885: Roche Division sur le site de la NASA.
From a viewing angle slightly above the ringplane Cassini spied Saturn's moon Atlas, which orbits Saturn between the broad A ring and the thin F ring. The background of Saturn's atmosphere (a uniform grey in this image) lies approximately 76,000 kilometers (47,000 miles) beyond the little moon. Atlas is 32 kilometers (20 miles) across.
This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 18, 2005, at a distance of approximately 914,000 kilometers (568,000 miles) from Atlas. Resolution in the original image was 5 kilometers (3 miles) per pixel. The image has been contrast-enhanced and magnified by a factor of two to aid visibility.
When viewed from the dark (unlit) side, the rings are essentially an inverse of their familiar appearance (see PIA06259) and PIA06548) to compare the different views).
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. 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 and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team is based at the Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. For additional images visit the Cassini imaging team homepage http://ciclops.org.
