Prometheus Streaming Away

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute , Posted on: Tuesday, 15 July 2008, 06:12 CDT Download full size image

Saturn's moon Prometheus pulls away from an encounter with the narrow F ring, trailing a streamer of fine, icy particles behind it.

Prometheus (86 kilometers, or 53 miles across at its widest point) is lit by the Sun from lower right. Dim, reflected light from Saturn illuminates the moon from the top. Some hints of topography can be seen on the Saturn-lit side. The F-ring streamer is seen at left.

This view looks toward the unilluminated side of the rings from about 67 degrees above the ringplane. The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on May 25, 2008. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 534,000 kilometers (332,000 miles) from Prometheus and at a Sun-Prometheus-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 92 degrees. Image scale is 3 kilometers (2 miles) per pixel.

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