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Cassini, the probe sent by NASA to Saturn transmitted beautiful images back on Earth with the distant Rhea, the planet’s moon.
The mission may reach the end of its life. However, there’s a kick left in the artificial satellite. As it proceeds with its orbit around Saturn, Cassini took a staggering shot of Rhea, which is around 948 miles long, as being the second-biggest of Saturn. As the planet has 62 moons, the record is impressive.
Rhea is the second-largest moon of Saturn after Titan and is placed on the 9th place as size in the Solar System. Its presence was first discovered in the 17th century by the scientist Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
The Image of Rhea
In photos, Rhea shows a splendid image when caught in direct daylight. The moon is about 75 percent frozen water, which means it reflects light. In this picture, Rhea is seen as opposed to Saturn, showing a side full of cavities. Rhea is a standout amongst the Saturnian moons, and the light over the surface gives insights on its previous geologic movements.
The North on Rhea is up and turned 36 degrees to one side. NASA says the picture was taken on June 3, 2016, utilizing a channel focused at 338 nanometers. The image scale is 2.4 miles per pixel.
Cassini Space Trip
The Cassini-Huygens mission is conducted by NASA, the Italian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is responsible for the mission on behalf of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and the two locally available cameras were designed at JPL. The image processor is located at the Space Science Institute in Colorado.
Cassini rocket is the fourth shuttle sent to Saturn. It reached the planet’s orbit in 2004 and from that point forward it has been watching the heavy planet and its most popular satellites.
The production of the spacecraft started in the ‘80s, and the ship contains an orbiter and a lander that was designed to reach the surface of Titan. It was launched in 1997 and arrived near Saturn seven years after.
Since its departure, the ship reached Venus, the asteroid 2685 Marusky, Jupiter, and then arrived next to Saturn, where it stayed for almost twelve months. Huygens landed on Titan on 14th January 2005.
Image Source: Wikipedia
