The Cassini spacecraft will be trick-or-treating at Saturn's moon Enceladus this Friday, swooping in to snap as many images as possible of the unusual features known as tiger stripes that slash across the moon's south pole.
The maneuver builds on a very close flyby Cassini did earlier this month, which sent it deep into the plume of ice and gas that seems to be coming from the tiger stripe fissures.
Cassini near Enceladus's icy geysers, as seen in an artist's rendering
—Image copyright 2008 Karl Kofoed
At just 16 miles (25 kilometers) above the surface, that October 9 trip marked the closest Cassini had ever been to Enceladus's southern surface.
But the focus of the previous trip was on the plume's composition, not on taking pictures.
This time the craft is staying a bit farther away and will work its cameras and other sensors to build on visual data about the moon's plume.
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