Enceladus' surface. High-resolution Cassini spacecraft image of the surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. The image shows a tectonically fractu

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Enceladus' surface. High-resolution Cassini spacecraft image of the surface of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons. The image shows a tectonically fractured surface. This is a young area of the moon's surface and does not contain any impact craters. Enceladus is composed of water ice, silicates and iron. Its surface features suggest the presence of a subsurface ocean, although this has not been confirmed. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft was launched in 1997 to investigate Saturn, its rings and its moons. This image was taken at a distance of 208 kilometres during Cassini's very close flyby of Enceladus on 14 July 2005.

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Size: 2524px × 2524px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 14, 14/07/2005, 2005, 21st, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, black--white, cassini, cassini-huygens, century, close, enceladus, exploration, exploring, fissure, fissures, flyby, gash, gashes, july, monochrome, moon, planet, planetary, saturn, saturnian, science, solar, space, spacecraft, surface, system, tectonic, young