CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS
Earliest Tendrils

Earliest Tendrils
PIA 08321
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   This was the first image in which the Tendril structures were visible near Enceladus. Originally released in 2006, this image was taken as part of the 'In Saturn's Shadow' mosaic while the Sun was behind Saturn from the spacecraft's point of view. At such an extremely high phase angle (175 degrees), the Tendril structures became visible because they are composed of small ice particles which tend to forward-scatter light.

Cassini was 2.1 million km from Enceladus, giving a resolution of 127 km per pixel.

The Cassini Solstice 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 Solstice Mission visit http://ciclops.org, http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
Released: April 14, 2015 (PIA 08321)
Image/Caption Information