On October 28 , the NASA spacecraftCassini do a flyby of Enceladus , one of Saturn ’s moons , dip just 30 miles above the surface at 19,000 miles per minute . In the past few days , Cassini has sent back to Earth the first images from the flyby , which targeted the icy geysers of the South Pole , as seen above .
Because the spacecraft zoom by the moon so tight , the tight - up below , of the South Pole , is a little fuzzy ( and theCassini imaging teameven march it a bit to remove " flimsy smearing " in the original image ) . It was taken from approximately 77 miles above the surface .
After the flyby , Cassini photographed this resonant image of Saturn ’s rings and Enceladus at a distance of 106,000 stat mi from the moon .
While the photos Cassini captured are lovely , the data the spacecraft gathered are every bit important . Over the next several week , researchers will pore over the sample of gasolene and icy subatomic particle captured by Cassini ’s gas analyzer and detritus detector instrument to derive in effect insight into the composition of the global ocean beneath the moon ’s icy surface . They ’ll also look for hydrothermal activity that might be occurring on the ocean level . Why ? It ’s part of our search for habitable surroundings — and , potentially , lifespan — in the solar system and beyond .
In the meanwhile , you may take a look atraw imagesfrom the flyby .
All epitome courtesy of NASA / JPL - Caltech / Space Science Institute
