Dark Moon, Dramatic Plume
Below a darkened Enceladus, a plume of water ice is backlit in this view of one of Saturn's most dramatic moons.
See Bursting at the Seams and Jet Blue to learn more about the jets of water ice emanating from the south polar region of Enceladus. Lit terrain seen here is on the leading hemisphere of Enceladus (313 miles, or 504 kilometers across). North is up.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Feb. 20, 2012. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 83,000 miles (134,000 kilometers) from Enceladus and at a Sun-Enceladus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 165 degrees. Image scale is 2,628 feet (801 meters) per pixel.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
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