Cassini Images Saturn's Moons Dione and Hyperion
Posted on June 21, 2015
NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been imaging Saturn's moons Dione and Hyperion over the past few weeks. Cassini took images of Saturn's moon Dione during a close flyby on June 16, 2015. Cassini came within 321 miles of Dione's surface during the flyby.
Cassini focused on terrain that included Dione's Eurotas Chasmata. This region was first observed 35 years by NASA's Voyager mission. Cassini will make a final flyby of Dione on August 17, 2015. During this flyby it will dive to within 295 miles (474 kilometers) of the surface of Dione. That will be Cassini's second closest brush with Dione. It was just 60 miles above Dione during a flyby in December 2011.
A hi-res version of the image can be found here. NASA also released a collection of several raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moon Dione taken during Cassini's flyby.
Cassini also recently imaged Saturn's moon Hyperion during a close flyby on May 31, 2015. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. The image shows the sponge-like appearance of the irregularly shaped moon. A larger version of the image can be found here.
