The low angle of the sun over Ithaca Chasma on Saturn’s mid-sized moon Tethys. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
This newly released Cassini image shows Ithaca Chasma on Saturn’s mid-sized moon Tethys.
The low angle of the sun over Tethys’ massive canyon, Ithaca Chasma (near the terminator, at right), highlights the contours of this enormous rift.
Ithaca Chasma is up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) wide, and runs nearly three-fourths of the way around icy Tethys (660 miles or 1,062 kilometers across). The canyon has a maximum depth of nearly 2.4 miles (4 kilometers) deep.
The giant crater Odysseus — usually one of Tethys’ most recognizable features– is barely seen in profile along the limb, at the upper left.
This view looks toward the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Tethys. North on Tethys is up and rotated 5 degrees to the left. The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on January 30, 2017.
The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 221,000 miles (356,000 kilometers) from Tethys. Image scale is 1 mile (2 kilometers) per pixel.
Be the first to comment on "NASA’s Cassini Views Ithaca Chasma on Tethys"