Starship Asterisk*

In the Moving Moons of Saturn APOD, Rhea appears to be moving in a slow, retrograde orbit. This is just an effect of the relative motion of the camera / spacecraft, right? I wonder why the Cassini imaging team didn't control the frame to keep Rhea more centered, or even give it apparent motion leftward.

Or is my perspective completely off? I'm assuming that Mimas and Enceladus are located between the observer and Rhea (that is, inside the moons' orbit) since the fastest relative motion is to the left...

'Fraid I cant comment on that... but I just wanted to say how cool that time-lapse image is! There is something very satisfying that we can actually take these photos now from the Saturn system itself.

If you really want to know the answer, get in touch via this web site with the Cassini outreach team. They _may_ get an answer for you.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/contact-us.cfm