The Cassini spacecraft is transmitting raw images today of Saturn’s moon Enceladus (left).
Cassini was expected to fly as close as thirty miles from the surface. The spacecraft aimed its cameras at the tiny moon’s south pole. That’s where jets of icy water vapor shoot hundreds of miles into space. The images are expected to be the most detailed ever seen of this area. "From this data we may learn more about how eruptions, tectonics, and seismic activity alter the moon’s surface," said Paul Helfenstein, a Cassini imaging team associate at Cornell told Space Daily.
NASA’s Cassini bloggers expect some of the best raw views to arrive late this afternoon.