Enceladus Oct. 9, 2008 Flyby - Posted Image #3 (NASA Cassini Saturn Mission Images)

CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS

Enceladus Oct. 9, 2008 Flyby - Posted Image #3

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PIA 11121

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This image was taken during Cassini's extremely close encounter with Enceladus on Oct. 9, 2008.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 9, 2008 a distance of approximately 42,000 kilometers (26,000 miles) from Enceladus. Image scale is 503 meters (1,650 feet) per pixel.

The Cassini Equinox Mission is a joint United States and European endeavor. 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 was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging team consists of scientists from the US, England, France, and Germany. The imaging operations center and team lead (Dr. C. Porco) are based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about the Cassini Equinox Mission visit http://ciclops.org, http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Released: October 10, 2008 (PIA 11121)
Image/Caption Information

Alliance Member Comments

Lythia (Oct 17, 2008 at 4:06 PM):

same spot in 2005: http://ciclops.org/view/860/Enceladus_Mosaic

Lythia (Oct 17, 2008 at 3:59 PM):

If Enc was the size of Earth (it's 1/25th of Earth), then the canyon would have to be 5000km (guessing that the one on Enc is 200km). Pretty impressive indeed :) I wonder how recent the little circles below the canyon were made?

jedediyah (Oct 14, 2008 at 12:16 PM):

Actually, it looks like this canyon is only a couple hundred km long whereas the Grand Canyon is close to 450 km long (depending on where you start measuring). Which is not to say that this canyon isn't impressive!... just that the scale of the image matters. :)

Red_dragon (Oct 11, 2008 at 11:55 AM):

I agree; truly impressive that canyon. It's not Tethys' Ithaca Chasma, but still it's awesome. How deep and largue is? (by the way, I would not be surprised if it's discovered it was in the past a plume source)

sarge (Oct 11, 2008 at 10:49 AM):

That's gotta be a serious canyon. Eat dust, Grand Canyon!

sverba (Oct 11, 2008 at 9:22 AM):

This must be what H.P. Lovecraft kept trying to tell us about in his descriptions of cosmic landscapes of cyclopean structures...