DEUTSCH: Sonnenlicht macht im Hintergrund das schwache Band des E-Ringes sichtbar, als sich zwei Monde in den Weiten des Saturnsystems treffen. Enceladus (504 km breit) und Tethys (1.062 km breit) treffen in diesem Bild scheinbar dicht zusammen, aber in Wirklichkeit ist Tethys 260.000 km weiter von Cassini entfernt als Enceladus. Enceladus ist leicht anhand der Eisfontänen am Südpol erkennbar. Die Aufnahme gelang am 06.06.2006 aus einer Entfernung von 3,9 Mio km zu Enceladus und 4,2 Mio km zu Tethys. Die Bildauflösung beträgt 23 km/pxl bzw. 25 km/pxl.
ENGLISH: Sunlight makes visible the faint band called the E ring as two moons meet on the sky. Enceladus (504 kilometers, 313 miles across) and Tethys (1,062 kilometers, 660 miles across) appear close together in the sky in this image, but in reality, Tethys was more than 260,000 kilometers (162,000 miles) farther from Cassini. Enceladus is easy to identify by the brilliant plume of ice erupting from its south pole. Although this perspective views the night sides of both moons, the Sun is not the only source of illumination in the Saturn system. Tethys is at a fuller phase with respect to Saturn, and thus its “night side” is more fully lit than that of Enceladus. The view was acquired from a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 163 degrees, a viewing geometry in which the microscopic ice particles in its plume brighten substantially. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 6, 2006 at a distance of approximately 3.9 million kilometers (2.4 million miles) from Enceladus and 4.2 million kilometers (2.6 million miles) from Tethys. Image scale is 23 kilometers (14 miles) per pixel on Enceladus and 25 kilometers (16 miles) on Tethys. |
