Science Friday - Pic of the Day

by Trix

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Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004 Saturday, Feb. 28, 2004 at 12:05:17am PST

The new image was taken Feb. 9 and released Friday. Cassini was 43.1 million miles (69.4 million kilometers) from Saturn. The image contrast and colors have been slightly enhanced to improve visibility.

The icy moon Enceladus is faintly visible to the left, outside the rings. Enceladus is about 323 miles (520 kilometers) wide. Its brightness has been increased seven times relative to the planet, in order to make it noticeable. Cassini will investigate the moon more closely later in the mission.

Cassini has traveled 2.1 billion miles (3.4 billion kilometers) on its looping path. The mission is a cooperative effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.

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