September 27, 2021 at 1:28 pm

Cassini Captures Triple Crescent Moons Orbiting Saturn

by twistedsifter

triple crescent moons saturn nasa jpl Cassini Captures Triple Crescent Moons Orbiting Saturn

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

 

The moons of Saturn are numerous and diverse, ranging from tiny moonlets only tens of meters across to enormous Titan, which is larger than the planet Mercury. Saturn has 82 moons with confirmed orbits that are not embedded in its rings – of which only 13 have diameters greater than 50 kilometers (31 miles) – as well as dense rings that contain millions of embedded moonlets and innumerable smaller ring particles. [source]

The three moons shown here are: Titan (3,200 miles or 5,150 kilometers across), Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), and Rhea (949 miles or 1,527 kilometers across. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 2.7 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) from Titan.

The Cassini mission was a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. This photo was originally taken in July of 2015.

 

via NASA

 

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