News | April 12, 2017

Cassini Sees "Flying-Saucer" Moon Atlas Up Close

Black and white image of Atlas. — This unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Atlas was taken on April 12, 2017, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. **Image Credit:** NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moon, Atlas, were taken on April 12, 2017, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The flyby had a close-approach distance of about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers).

These images are the closest ever taken of Atlas and will help to characterize its shape and geology. Atlas (19 miles, or 30 kilometers across) orbits Saturn just outside the A ring -- the outermost of the planet's bright, main rings.

Additional raw images from Cassini are available at:

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/galleries/raw-images

Animated GIF showing approach to Atlas — This animated GIF built with unprocessed raw images show's Cassini close pass by Atlas.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Caltech in Pasadena manages JPL for NASA.

More information about Cassini:

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov