CICLOPS: Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for OPerationS
Features of the North

Features of the North
PIA 17211
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   NASA's Cassini spacecraft peered out over the northern territory on Saturn's moon Enceladus, capturing this view of two different terrain types. A region of older terrain covered in craters that have been modified by geological processes is seen at right, while at left is a province of relatively craterless, and presumably more youthful, wrinkled terrain. Cassini acquired the view during its final close flyby of Enceladus, on Dec. 19, 2015.

North on Enceladus is up and rotated 38 degrees to the left. The image was taken in polarized green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera.

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 21,000 miles (34,000 kilometers) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 145 degrees. Image scale is 668 feet (204 meters) 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/SSI
Released: December 21, 2015 (PIA 17211)
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