Dione: photo gallery
| The following images and text of Saturn's
moon Dione are from NASA's Planetary Photojournal. For more information,
see the main encyclopedia entry for Dione.
|
Cassini image. Oct. 11, 2005
Speeding toward Dione, Cassini's view
is enriched by the gold and blue hues of Saturn in the distance. The
horizontal stripes near the bottom of the image are Saturn's
rings. The spacecraft was nearly in the plane of the rings when
the image was taken, thinning them by perspective and masking their
awesome scale. The thin, curving shadows of the C ring and part of
the B ring adorn the northern latitudes visible here. It is notable
that Dione, like most of the other icy Saturnian satellites, looks
no different in natural color than in monochrome images. Images taken
with blue, green and infrared (centered at 752 nm) spectral filters
were used to create this color view, which approximates the scene
as it would appear to the human eye. The images were obtained with
the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera at a distance of about 39,000
km (24,200 mi.) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft angle of
22°. The image scale is about 2 km (1 mi.) per pixel. |
Cassini image. Oct. 11, 2005
This close-up view of icy Dione reveals a wide variety of surface
features that are simultaneously familiar and unlike any other place
in the solar system. The terrain in this image is located within a
60-km-wide (37-mi.) impact crater
along the feature called Padua Linea. The western rim of the encompassing
crater runs from the middle left to the upper right. The crater's
central peak can be seen at the lower right. Multiple generations
of fractures are visible here. Numerous fine, roughly parallel linear
grooves run across the terrain from top to bottom and are interrupted
by the larger, irregular bright fractures. In several places, fractures
postdate some deposits in the bottoms of craters that are not badly
degraded by time. Such a fracture, for example, runs from the center
toward the upper right. Most of the craters seen here have bright
walls and dark deposits of material on their floors. As on other Saturnian
moons, rockslides on Dione may reveal cleaner ice, while the darker
materials accumulate in areas of lower topography and lower slope
(e.g. crater floors and the bases of scarps). This view is centered
on terrain near 11° S latitude, 238° W longitude. This clear-filter
image was taken using the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera,
during Cassini's close targeted flyby of Dione. The image was acquired
from a distance of 4,486 km (2,787 mi.) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft
angle of 10°. The image scale is 23 m (75 ft) per pixel. |
Cassini image. Dec. 14, 2004
This high resolution view of Saturn's moon Dione was taken during
Cassini's first close approach to the icy moon. The view shows linear,
curving features within the region of the bright wispy terrain Dione
is known for. The image was obtained in visible light with the Cassini
spacecraft narrow angle camera at a distance of approximately 156,000
km (97,000 mi.) from Dione. The Sun-Dione-spacecraft angle is 34°.
The image scale is about 1 km (0.6 mi.) per pixel. |
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