Description:
Shepherd Moon Prometheus as seen by Cassini.
Last week, the Cassini Saturn probe sent back detailed images of Saturn’s moon Prometheus. This is the closest photo of Saturn’s small moon Prometheus obtained by Cassini since it began orbiting Saturn in 2004. The image above was taken at a distance of 36,000 kilometers from the moon and has not undergone any processing. The 100-kilometer-long surface of Prometheus reveals an interesting system containing bulges, ridges, and volcanoes. These features, combined with its rectangular shape and high albedo, are currently being studied to help understand the history of Prometheus and Saturn’s rings. Prometheus is one of the few rare shepherd moons discovered to date; due to the gravitational interaction between it and its companion moon Pandora, many smaller ice chunks are gathered into Saturn’s F ring. Cassini’s next major mission milestone is a flyby of Rhea on March 2.
NASA Website:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap100201.html
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