NASA's Cassini spacecraft has captured new detailed photos of Saturn's second largest moon Rhea.
The images were taken Saturday, March 10, as the craft flew by at an approximate distance of 26,000 miles.
The images revealed two large impact basins on the rocky moon's icy surface--the 300-mile-wide Mimaldi basin and the 200-mile Tirawa basin, United Press International reported.
The Cassini spacecraft was launched in October 1997 in a joint mission funded my NASA and the Europeans Space Agency, and has been gathering data on Saturn and its moons ever since.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft took this raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea on March 10, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Rhea at approximately 26,019 miles (41,873 kilometers) away.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSINASA's Cassini spacecraft took this raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea on March 10, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Rhea at approximately 26,157 miles (42,096 kilometers) away.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSINASA's Cassini spacecraft took this raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea on March 10, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Rhea at approximately 26,257 miles (42,258 kilometers) away.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSINASA's Cassini spacecraft took this raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Rhea on March 10, 2012. The camera was pointing toward Rhea at approximately 71,495 miles (115,060 kilometers) away.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSISaturn's second largest moon, Rhea (1,528 kilometers, or 949 miles across), is bisected by the right edge of the image.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 29, 2011NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSICraters appear well defined on icy Rhea in front of the hazy orb of the much larger moon Titan in this Cassini spacecraft view of these two Saturn moons.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 10, 2011.NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI
