Saturn's moon Rhea, Cassini image. Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn, with a diameter of around 1530 kilometres. It orbits just over 527,000 k

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Saturn's moon Rhea, Cassini image. Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn, with a diameter of around 1530 kilometres. It orbits just over 527,000 kilometres from the giant planet. It is composed mainly of water ice with a denser rocky core. This false-colour image reveals the presence of fractures on the surface (green, upper right). The exact cause of these is not known, but they may be due to cryovolcanism (ice eruptions). The images was taken on 17th January 2006 when Cassini was 245,000 kilometres from Rhea.

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Size: 2962px × 2962px
Photo credit: © NASA/JPL/SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 17th, 2006, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, cassini, century, circle, circular, coloured, cryovolcanism, false-coloured, fracture, fractures, ice, january, mission, moon, planetary, rhea, saturnian, science, single, solar, space, spacecraft, system, volcano