Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2008 February 11
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 the highest resolution version available.

Saturn's Moon Epimetheus from the Cassini Spacecraft
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation: How did Epimetheus form? No one is yet sure. To help answer that question, this small moon has recently been imaged again in great detail by the robot spacecraft Cassini now orbiting Saturn. Epimetheus sometimes orbits Saturn in front of Janus, another small satellite, but sometimes behind. The above image, taken last December, shows a surface covered with craters indicating great age. Epimetheus spans about 115 kilometres across. Epimetheus does not have enough surface gravity to restructure itself into a sphere. The flattened face of Epimetheus shown above might have been created by a single large impact.


Tomorrow's picture: echoes from a distant star


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