Target 1: Up Close with Rhea
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Target 1: Up Close with Rhea
Targets
Target 1:
Target 2:
Target 3:
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Sarah Milkovich
Science Planning Engineer
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Software used by the Cassini science planning team simulates the field of view the cameras on board the Cassini spacecraft can capture at a specific date and time. This is a computer-generated image of Rhea as seen by the Cassini spacecraft's Narrow Angle Camera on Oct. 18, 2010. Click on the image for a larger view. |
Hi, my name is Sarah, and I'm a science planning engineer.
I work with Cassini's science team to put together flybys of Saturn's icy moons.
I think target number 1 - Saturn's moon Rhea - is the best choice.
Rhea is a very interesting moon: one side is very bright and heavily cratered, while the other side has bright wispy streaks on a darker background, and fewer craters.
It is Saturn's second-largest moon. It is unusually light for it's size, so we think it might have a lot of ice.
One of the big mysteries of Rhea is whether or not it has rings. Observations by Cassini's particles and fields instruments of the region around Rhea show variations that some scientists think may be caused by very thin rings of dust around the moon.
However, we have not been able to see these rings directly with our cameras, so other scientists remain unconvinced.
Let's keep looking, and point Cassini's cameras at a mysterious world - Rhea, and pick Target number 1.
