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Enceladus Flyby – Nov. 6, 2011

This raw, unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Enceladus was taken on Oct. 19, 2011.

The primary goal of this flyby was to obtain the first detailed radar observation of Enceladus. This was the first close radar pass of an icy moon besides Titan; the results will enable a comparison of the radar properties of a moon with a known composition (Enceladus) with that of Titan. The segment also included plume observations, the composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) monitoring of hotspot activity, ultraviolet imaging spectrograph (UVIS) observations of Dione and its environment, and searches for Lagrangian companions of Enceladus and Rhea.

Date
Nov. 6, 2011

Altitude
308 miles (496 km)

Speed
17,000 mph (7.4 km/sec)