Cassini flies by Phoebe
Posted: Sun, Jun 13, 2004, 10:21 AM ET (1421 GMT)
NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully flew by the moon Phoebe on Friday, taking images of the heavily-cratered outer moon of Saturn. Cassini flew within 2,068 km of Phoebe, one of Saturn's outermost moons, at just before 5 pm EDT (2200 GMT) Friday. The spacecraft's antenna was pointed away from Earth during the flyby, so confirmation of the flyby had to wait until Saturday, when the spacecraft reoriented itself and transmitted initial data from the flyby to Earth. The first images of Phoebe returned by Cassini reveal a small moon, about 220 km in diameter, pockmarked with a variety of large and small craters. The flyby is the first of over 50 flybys of seven of Saturn's moons during the mission; this was the only flyby of Phoebe planned because of the moon's distance from Saturn. Cassini is scheduled to fire its main engine and enter orbit around Saturn on the night on June 30.
NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully flew by the moon Phoebe on Friday, taking images of the heavily-cratered outer moon of Saturn. Cassini flew within 2,068 km of Phoebe, one of Saturn's outermost moons, at just before 5 pm EDT (2200 GMT) Friday. The spacecraft's antenna was pointed away from Earth during the flyby, so confirmation of the flyby had to wait until Saturday, when the spacecraft reoriented itself and transmitted initial data from the flyby to Earth. The first images of Phoebe returned by Cassini reveal a small moon, about 220 km in diameter, pockmarked with a variety of large and small craters. The flyby is the first of over 50 flybys of seven of Saturn's moons during the mission; this was the only flyby of Phoebe planned because of the moon's distance from Saturn. Cassini is scheduled to fire its main engine and enter orbit around Saturn on the night on June 30.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, March 22
51,600 more satellites? Blue Origin adds another twist to the data center space race with Project Sunrise
GeekWire — 8:34 am ET (1234 GMT) Musk Says Tesla, SpaceX, xAI Chip Project to Kick Off in Texas
Bloomberg News — 8:31 am ET (1231 GMT) Elon Musk unveiled more on his moonshot Terafab project. Here are 4 takeaways.
Business Insider — 8:30 am ET (1230 GMT) From satellites to space data centers: Why low earth orbit is attracting billions in investment
CNBC — 8:28 am ET (1228 GMT) China shares first Fengyun-4C satellite observation images
Xinhua — 8:20 am ET (1220 GMT) |
