NASA has published photos taken by the Cassini spacecraft of the polar region of Enceladus, Saturn's moon.
Cassini was able to zoom in to a massive 1,142 miles of the moon, while performing the 20th flyby of the moon since arriving near Saturn in 2004. The spacecraft was also able to beam some of these images back to Earth for us to enjoy.
Previously, many of Cassini's Enceladus flybys have been shrouded in winter darkness; however, this time summer has arrived in the Saturn system, bringing light to the moon.
"The northern regions are crisscrossed by a spidery network of gossamer-thin cracks that slice through the craters," said Paul Helfenstein, a member of Cassini's imaging team at Cornell University, in a statement. "These thin cracks are ubiquitous on Enceladus, and now we see that they extend across the northern terrains as well."
Scientists at NASA will now scan the images to see if there are any signs of activity coming from the north polar region of Enceladus.
The images also come right before Cassini is set to perform another close flyby. On Oct. 28, Cassini will fly within only 30 miles of the south polar region of Enceladus. During this flyby, Cassini will plunge through the ice spray near the moon and sample the chemistry of the ocean beneath the ice.
Cassini will once again fly close to Enceladus on Dec. 19, at which point it will gather data to help scientists determine approximately how much heat is coming from the interior of the moon. These flybys will be some of Cassini's last, however, with the spacecraft set to end its mission with an intentional dive into Saturn's atmosphere, where it will be destroyed but could also gather and transmit valuable data what Saturn is made of and its atmosphere.
