A nice look at the surface of Rhea, the second largest moon of Saturn. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Sorry to see this the last targeted flyby of Rhea. Like it hints at the end. Not going there yet.

This is a remarkable image don’t you think?

NASA’s info on the image:

On its fourth and final targeted flyby of Rhea, the Cassini spacecraft provided this stunning view of the ancient and heavily cratered surface. Billions of years of impacts have sculpted Rhea’s surface into the form we see today.
With a diameter of 949 miles (1,528 kilometers) Rhea is Saturn’s second-largest moon.
This view is centered on terrain at 33 degrees north latitude, 358 degrees west longitude. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on March 9, 2013.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 2,280 miles (3,670 kilometers) from Rhea and at a Sun-Rhea-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 92 degrees. Image scale is 72 feet (22 meters) per pixel.

OR you can visit the Cassini site to see more.

The hurricane-like storm that is the northern vortex on Saturn as seen by Cassini. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Newly taken Cassini images show Saturn’s north polar storms in false color. This is a nice close up of the northern polar vortex is aptly named “The Rose” in the JPL press release.

This is only one image and you can see more images and video’s of this feature at what I will call the “Cassini storm page“.

The Cassini caption for The Rose:

The spinning vortex of Saturn’s north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. Measurements have sized the eye at a staggering 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) across with cloud speeds as fast as 330 miles per hour (150 meters per second).

Continue reading →