Home | Site Map | What's New | Image Index | Copyright | Posters | ScienceViews | Science Fiction Timelines |

PHOTO INDEX OF
PRIMARY TARGETS
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
EARTH
JUPITER
KUIPER BELT
MARS
MERCURY
METEORITES
NEPTUNE
OORT CLOUD
PLUTO
SATURN
SOLAR SYSTEM
SPACE
SUN
URANUS
VENUS
ORDER PRINTS

OTHER PHOTO INDEXES
ALL TARGETS
PHOTO CATEGORIES

SCIENCEVIEWS
AMERICAN INDIAN
AMPHIBIANS
BIRDS
BUGS
FINE ART
FOSSILS
THE ISLANDS
HISTORICAL PHOTOS
MAMMALS
OTHER
PARKS
PLANTS
RELIGIOUS
REPTILES
SCIENCEVIEWS PRINTS

Countdown to Phoebe

Target Name:  Phoebe
Spacecraft:  Cassini Orbiter
Instrument:  Imaging Science Subsystem
Produced by:  NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
Copyright: NASA Copyright Free Policy
Date Taken:  10 June 2004
Date Released: 11 June 2004

Related Documents
Download Options

NameTypeWidth x HeightSize
PIA06063.jpgJPEG679 x 38210K
PIA06063.tifTIFF679 x 38224K

As Cassini sails toward its rendezvous with Phoebe, details on the small, dark moon are coming into view at a dizzying pace. The images shown here were taken 13 hours apart on June 10, 2004, just one day prior to closest approach. There is a dramatic increase in detail between these two views. Phoebe completes one rotation about its spin axis in nine hours and 16 minutes. We are looking at opposite hemispheres in these two views.

A large crater, roughly 50 kilometers (31 miles) across, is visible in the image on the left. The image on the right shows a body heavily pitted with craters of varying sizes, including very large ones, and displaying a substantial amount of variation in surface brightness. Features that appear to be cliffs may be the boundaries between large craters. Despite its exaggerated topography, Phoebe is more round than irregular in shape.

Left to right, the two views were obtained at a phase, or Sun-Phoebe spacecraft angle, of 87 degrees, and from distances of 956,000 kilometers (594,000 miles) and 658,000 kilometers (409,000 miles), respectively. The image resolutions are 5.7 and 3.9 kilometers (3.5 to 2.4 miles) per pixel, respectively. To aid visibility, the images were magnified three times via linear interpolation; no contrast enhancement was performed.

Phoebe is approximately 220 kilometers (137 miles) wide. On Phoebe, the spin axis points up and approximately 13 degrees to the left of the boundary between day and night. Cassini draws closer to its only flyby of this mysterious outer moon of Saturn. Closest approach to Phoebe will be at 1:56 p.m. Pacific Time on June 11.

Copyright © 1995-2016 by Calvin J. Hamilton. All rights reserved.