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Bad Astronomy
« Hubble’s impact
Volcanoes! »

Enceladus writ large

Cassini had the temerity to pass close to Saturn’s active moon Enceladus while I was in the Galapagos, so I couldn’t blog about it. Ever vigilant, however, Emily got the goods, including this incredible mosaic.

Enceladus mosaic from August 2008

Emily’s post has lots more info on the pass and the moon itself. Go look.

Edited to add: An oversight on my part; obviously I should have also linked to the original CiCLOPS site as well!

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August 21st, 2008 1:30 PM by Phil Plait in Astronomy, NASA, Pretty pictures | 19 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

19 Responses to “Enceladus writ large”

  1. 1.   Jason Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    The missing parts are alien bases, obvy.

  2. 2.   dre Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    totally OT, but: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26333787/

    the effects of vaccine denial are already becoming evident.

  3. 3.   WJM Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    MMmmmm… Enceladus. I’m kinda partial to shawarmas, but enceladus will do.

  4. 4.   Kevin F. Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    I can’t think of a rhyme for Enceladus,
    But I’m glad I have an epiglottis.

  5. 5.   RL Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    Everytime I hear the name Enceladus I get hungry.

  6. 6.   Robert Krendik Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    EPIC!

  7. 7.   Michael L Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Kevin F:

    There was an old man,
    Who went to Enceladus,
    To have his fill of Enchiladas

  8. 8.   JohnW Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    Shouldn’t there be jets?

  9. 9.   Joe Meils Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 3:04 pm

    Wow! Amazingly tortured surface. (A non-scientific observation, but it reminds me of paint, when you strip it off of the surface of an old peice of furniture.)

  10. 10.   PJE Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Jason beat me to the punch (what an odd expression). It is clearly a NASA coverup to hide something…a big blotted out portion of the photo…you folks are so gullible!!!!!!!! (extra exclamations for dramatic effect)

    Pete

  11. 11.   alcari Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 4:18 pm

    Wow, that’s amazing.
    Much, much better then the previous best picture by Voyager, which is a whopping 27 years old next tuesday. The picture that is, not the moon.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Enceladus_from_Voyager.jpg

  12. 12.   alcari Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pm

    Uhm, please disregard my last post, I forgot the Cassini missions, that passed Enceladus a measly 3 years ago. The actual previous best is this one:

    http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn13467/dn13467-1_500.jpg

  13. 13.   Elwood Herring Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    There was an old man from Enceladus
    Who used to consistently yell at us
    “Stop sending those probes,
    They hurt my earlobes
    And the smell is obnoxiously hazardous”.

    (Best I could do at short notice!)

  14. 14.   IBY Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 9:06 pm

    I think the picture is absolutely gorgeous!

  15. 15.   madge Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 10:24 pm

    Cassini goes from strength to strength. I LOVE that mission! :)

  16. 16.   Jose Says:
    August 21st, 2008 at 10:54 pm

    I have absolute proof that there was a cover-up! Here’s the photo without the upper left blacked out.
    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3240/2786250598_03a34398a1_o.jpg
    Or maybe I just needed something to do during Blues Clues

  17. 17.   Don Snow Says:
    August 22nd, 2008 at 3:21 am

    Now, there’s a snow ball! Could use that one for the center round of a humongus snowman.

    Neat photo.

  18. 18.   lungshou Says:
    August 22nd, 2008 at 8:50 am

    Obvious 4-wheeler tracks imo. The need a Tread Lightly program asap.

  19. 19.   gopher65 Says:
    August 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    Hehe, nice poetry people:). Made me laugh.

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