This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Enceladus. It displays the contrast between the older and newer terrain on Enceladus. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
This new Cassini image dramatically displays the contrast between the older and newer terrain on Enceladus.
Newer surfaces (on the left in the image) will not have had time to accumulate craters. But as material sits exposed on the surface, impact scars build up, as in the more heavily cratered area on the top and right. Scientists can use this, along with estimates of how frequently impacts happen, to determine ages of surfaces of solid planets and of moons like Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across).
This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Enceladus. North on Enceladus is up and rotated 36 degrees to the right. The image was taken in green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on August 18, 2015.
The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 85,000 miles (137,000 kilometers) from Enceladus. Image scale is 2,680 feet (818 meters) per pixel.
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