Voyager 1 Encounters SaturnUnited States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Science
Voyager 1 Encounters Saturn
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Saturn (Planet) -- Photographs from space; Saturn probes; Voyager Project
Dione’s other hemisphere (mosaic) also has many impact craters—the
record of cosmic collisions. The largest crater is less than 100
kilometers (60 miles) in diameter and includes a well-developed
central peak. Sinuous valleys (seen near each pole) are probably the
result of crustal fracturing in the moon’s icy crust. Dione’s
diameter is only 1100 kilometers (700 miles), much smaller than any
of Jupiter’s icy moons.]
[Illustration: 11/13/80 80,000 km (50,000 mi)
Craters stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the surface of Saturn’s
satellite Rhea, seen in this mosaic of the highest-resolution
pictures of the north polar region. Rhea is 1500 kilometers (950
miles) in diameter and is the most heavily cratered Saturn moon. The
largest crater, made by the impact of cosmic debris, is about 300
kilometers (190 miles) in diameter.]
[Illustration: 11/12/80 128,000 km (79,500 mi)
Impact craters on the ancient surface of Rhea closely resemble those
on Mercury and Earth’s Moon. Many of the craters have central peaks
formed by rebound of the floor during the explosive formation of the
crater. Some craters are old and degraded by later impacts. Many
have sharp rims and appear relatively fresh, while others are very
shallow and have subdued rims, indicative of their antiquity. White
areas on the edges of several of the craters are probably fresh ice
exposed on steep slopes or possibly deposited by volatiles leaking
from fractured regions. Surface features as small as 2.5 kilometers
(1.5 miles) in diameter are visible.]
[Illustration: 11/9/80 4.5 million km (2.8 million mi)
Titan is a large, bizarre satellite. It is larger (almost 5120
kilometers or 3180 miles in diameter) than the planet Mercury and
possesses a dense atmosphere of unique composition. Voyager 1’s
cameras show Titan’s surface to be totally obscured by a thick layer
of atmospheric haze. In the full-disk photograph, only two features
are visible: a faint boundary between the southern and darker
northern hemispheres and a dark “hood” overlying Titan’s north polar
region.]
[Illustration: 11/12/80 435,000 km (270,000 mi)
This hood and greater detail in the haze layers are shown in the
higher resolution photograph.]
[Illustration: 11/10/80 4.6 million km (2.8 million mi)
Little detail can be seen in this distant view of Hyperion, the
satellite which orbits just beyond Titan. Voyager 2 will observe
Hyperion at a closer range.]
[Illustration: 11/12/80 3.2 million km (1.9 million mi)
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