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Picture of the day - September 20, 2005
Saturn's Moon Enceladus
Photo courtesy of NASA.
One of the most interesting moons in our solar
system is the beautiful, yet frigid Enceladus.
The planet Saturn
has many moons orbiting around it with new ones being discovered all the time,
but Enceladus remains a favorite among astronomers because of its unique and
changing surface.
Enceladus is the brightest large object in the solar system because it is
covered with ice. In fact, virtually all of the sunlight that reaches the
surface is reflected back into space! The river-like fissures on the left-hand
side of the photo were most likely caused by internal melting of the frozen
liquid interior and shifting ice.
When British astronomer Sir
William Herschel discovered Enceladus and several other moons of Saturn way back in 1789, he used an improved reflecting
telescope that he designed and built himself.
Herschel probably couldn't even imagine just how close a view the astronomers of today would be able to get of those distant bodies.
Today's picture of Enceladus was taken by the unmanned spacecraft Cassini this
past July as it came within 168 miles of the moon's south polar region.
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