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These are the Last Close-up Images of the Moon Rhea from Cassini

Monday, March 11, 2013 19:10

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(Before It's News)

Cassini looks over the heavily cratered surface of Rhea during the spacecraft’s flyby of the moon on March 10, 2012. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI.

“Take a good, long, luxurious look at these sights from another world,” said Cassini Imaging Team Leader Carolyn Porco, “as they will be the last close-ups you’ll ever see of this particular moon.”

On Saturday, March 9, 2013 Cassini made the last close flyby of Rhea during its mission, coming within 620 miles (997km) of the surface of the moon. Cassini’s mission is slated to end in 2017 with a controlled fall into Saturn’s atmosphere. Cassini has been in orbit around Saturn since 2004 and is in its second mission extension.

“Our mission at Saturn has been ongoing for nearly 9 years and is slated to continue for another 4,” Porco said in an email message. “Targeted flybys of the moons Dione, in June and August of 2015, and Enceladus, in October and December of 2015, are all that remains on the docket for detailed exploration of Saturn’s medium-sized moons.”

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