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18 of November, 10:32

NASA was surprised by the reflection of the moons of Saturn The U.S. space Agency (NASA) has published a new picture of 2 of Saturn's moons - dione and Enceladus. The science team of the Cassini mission decided thanks to this unique photo compares the reflectance of these planets.

Published image was acquired in visible range imaging system of the spacecraft Cassini 8 September 2015 from a distance of approximately 83 million miles from dione. The image scale is 500 meters per pixel. The distance from Enceladus - 364 thousand km, the image scale is 2.2 kilometers per pixel.

How do we inform professionals NASA, despite the fact that dione and Enceladus have practically the same composition, reflecting their different capabilities. Enceladus has a significantly higher albedo (reflectivity) than that of dione. Taking into account the opinion of scientific workers is associated with the ice geysers at the South pole of the largest moon of Saturn, which is essentially "analogout" the surface with fresh material. Dion, not owning the geysers, over time, became "dark", while collecting space dust on its own surface.

Remember that Cassini was launched October 15, 1997 from Cape Canaveral in Florida and 1 July 2004, went into orbit of Saturn. It is designed to study the planet and its system, which consists of 62 satellites. The completion of the Cassini mission scheduled for 2017, it is planned that in early December this year, the machine gets closer to the Enceladus at a distance of about 5 thousand km.
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