#Moon atlas saturn update#
#Moon atlas saturn full#
#Moon atlas saturn series#

It is surrounded by nine continuous rings and three arcs. The flyby had a close-approach distance of about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers). Saturn is about 9.4 times the size of earth but its density is one-eighth that of our planet. These raw, unprocessed images of Saturn's moon, Atlas, were taken on April 12, 2017, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. It is a gaseous planet, but scientists believe that is has a solid core. For a listing of all moons, see Moons of the Planets. Saturn is the second-largest planet in the solar system. Its unusual shape comes from ring dust particles that impact it's equatorial region as it orbits within the Roche Division. The ring is located 85,770 miles (138,000 km) from the center of Saturn in the orbit of the moon. Check out the animation below and read more here. Atlas is a small moon near the A Ring of planet Saturn. This new ring is associated with Saturn's moon, Atlas. It sounds a little far-fetched, but recent computer models by researchers in Bern seem to indicate that as a likely process. *This is what the moons Atlas and Pan look like today, but their formations may have been the result of low-angle head-on collisions between small moonlets that resulted in ovoid shapes later pulled flat by Saturn’s gravity.

#Moon atlas saturn update#

UPDATE 8-8-18: Here’s another color image of Atlas made from raw images acquired by Cassini on April 12, except this one has been assembled from uncompressed and calibrated raw files so the quality is much better (and hopefully even closer to natural color!) You can find a larger version of it on my Flickr album here.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Caltech/Space Science Institute/Jason Major. Color image of Atlas from April 12, 2017.

#Moon atlas saturn series#

I’ve adjusted it to bring out some surface detail and (hopefully) closer match actual visible light. During the final stages of the Cassini mission, the spacecraft made a series of close observations of Saturns rings. If the Moon person is on emotional autopilot, the Saturn person can be the cold bucket of ice water on the Moon person’s warm bed, like wake up it’s time to go to work That being said, as with Saturn aspects to a handful of inner planets, this combination can really be relationship glue. UPDATE: Here’s a color image of Atlas made from raw images acquired by Cassini on April 12 in infrared, green, and UV wavelengths. The Moon’s expression is instinctive and habitual. But Atlas appears to be a shepherd moon that isn’t responsible for shepherding ring.

#Moon atlas saturn full#

Like its smaller sibling Pan, Atlas has a flattened shape, created by the presence of a large buildup of icy material around its equator.*Ītlas orbits Saturn just outside the edge of the A ring, taking about 14 hours to complete a full orbit. Some of Saturn’s moons, called shepherd moons, use their gravity to keep the planet’s famous rings in check. The images above are a collection of eight from Cassini’s closest approach. If you thought Pan resembled a UFO, Atlas is even more saucer-shaped! Slightly larger at about 19 miles across, Saturn’s moon Atlas was passed by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft on April 12, 2017, coming within about 9,000 miles. Animation made from images acquired by Cassini on April 12, 2017.