CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS
Cassini's Close Look at Tethys

Cassini's Close Look at Tethys
PIA 07733
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   This map of the surface of Tethys (1,062 kilometers, 660 miles across) illustrates the regions that will be imaged by Cassini during the spacecraft's close flyby of the moon on September 24, 2005. At closest approach, the spacecraft is expected to pass approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) above the moon's surface.

The colored lines delineate the regions that will be imaged at differing resolutions, listed in the legend at bottom.

The new high-resolution coverage will reveal details on the Saturn facing hemisphere of Tethys, including parts of the giant Ithaca Chasma canyon system. Imaging scientists also are hoping to obtain images of an ancient ridge east of Ithaca Chasma, as well as a section of terrain just west of the giant rift that appeared to be unusually smooth in Voyager images.

This flyby is also strongly focused on gathering high-resolution imaging data of the moon's southern polar region.

The map was made from images obtained by both the Cassini and Voyager spacecraft.

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 Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. 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-Huygens mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and the Cassini imaging team home page, http://ciclops.org.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Released: September 20, 2005 (PIA 07733)
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