Space Exploration - Latest Cassini images of Enceladus on view

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This raw, unprocessed image of Enceladus and its jets was taken on Oct. 19, 2011. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Raw, unprocessed images from the successful Oct. 19 flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus by NASA's Cassini spacecraft provide new views of the moon and the icy jets that burst from its southern polar region.

This flyby gave Cassini its first opportunity to observe Enceladus' plumes with two stars shining behind them, a dual stellar occultation.

To see the raw images, go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/raw/ and click on "Search Images."

Cassini flew within about 765 miles (1,230 kilometers) of Enceladus' surface at 2:22 a.m. PDT (09:22 UTC) on Oct. 19.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. 

JPL/NASA (news : web)

Source: PhysOrg.com