Even as sharp new pictures continue to flow in from the recent MESSENGER flyby past Mercury, the folks over at the Cassini-Hyugens program are conducing their own close encounter with Saturn's icy moon Enceladus.
—Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
This afternoon the Cassini spacecraft made its closest approach yet to the wrinkly-faced moon—a trip that brought it a mere 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the surface.
The flightpath sent Cassini deep into a huge geyser-like plume of ice and gases that has been tempting scientists since it was first spotted in 2005 with the idea that ingredients for life could exist on the Saturnian moon.
About 20 minutes after buzzing the surface, the craft was meant to turn around as it fled the scene to capture a multispectral mosaic of the south pole.
But according to the Cassini team, the main focus of the flyby isn't the pictures, it's the trip through the geyser's plume, during which time the craft should have collected samples of gas and particles for analysis.
Another flyby planned for October 31 won't get quite as close but will come in with cameras blazing, snapping shots of the odd formations dubbed tiger stripes that are thought to be the source of Enceladus's geyser.
Image courtesy NASA/JPL—
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