PIA01385: Pictures of Tethys' Large Crater


Pictures of Tethys’ Large Crater

Caption:

This series of Voyager 2 pictures of Tethys shows its distinctive large crater, 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter, as it rotates toward the termination and limb of this satellite of Saturn. These images were obtained at four-hour intervals beginning late Aug. 24 and ending early the next day; the distances were 1.1 million km. (670,000 mi.), 826,000 km. (510,000 mi.) and 680,000 km. (420,000 mi.), respectively. The crater, the remnant of a large impact, has a central peak and several concentric rings. Some grooves radiating from the center may be formed of material thrown from the crater during the impact. The bottom frame, with the crater in profile, reveals that its floor has risen back to the spherical shape of the satellite, unlike the large crater seen on Tethys sister moon Mimas.

Background Info:

The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Tethys Mimas, Saturn
System Saturn
Target Type Satellite Planet
Mission Voyager
Instrument Host Cassini Orbiter Voyager 2
Host Type Orbiter Flyby Spacecraft
Instrument Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Crater, Grayscale, Impact, Rotation
Acquisition Date
Release Date 1999-01-06
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA01385
Identifier PIA01385