Atlas of moons8/31/2023 During the years 18 I bestowed some attention on the dusky pit, and was led to suspect that both it and the surrounding area vary considerably in tone from time to time. A ridge, at times resembling a light marking, extends from the central mountain to the N. of the central hills, and the other on the opposite side. quarter, and two others, originating at a dusky pit of irregular form situated near the foot of the S.W. Several clefts may be seen on the floor under suitable illumination, among them a forked cleft on the N.W. There is a small but distinct central mountain, south of which stands a number of smaller hills, forming with the first a circular arrangement, suggestive of the idea that they represent the relics of a large central crater. The detail on the somewhat dark interior will repay careful scrutiny with high powers. It exhibits an approach to a polygonal outline, the lineal character of the border being especially well marked on the N. tower to an altitude of nearly 11,000 feet. Its lofty rampart, 55 miles in diameter, is surmounted by peaks, which on the N. ( IAU Directions) ATLAS.-This, and its companion Hercules on the W., form under oblique illumination a very beautiful pair, scarcely surpassed by any other similar objects on the first quadrant. LPOD Photo Gallery Lunar Orbiter Images Apollo Images The rilles on the floor of Atlas have been known as Rimae Atlas I, II, III, IV, and V. Order from our online store.Orbital close-up photograph of Atlas made by the temporary lunar orbiter Clementine (1994).Ītlas is one of several pronounced craters on the moon's near and far sides which show curious cobweb-shaped systems of rilles on their floor. The maneuver will make Cassini the first craft to ever explore Saturn’s ring gap, making measurements of the mass of the planet’s rings, probing Saturn’s atmosphere and interior structure, and collecting spectacular imagery.įollow Stephen Clark on Twitter: Exploring the Ringed Planetįind out more about Saturn and its moons in this 196-page special edition from Astronomy Now. The spacecraft will swing by Saturn’s largest moon Titan, covered in rain-replenished lakes of liquid methane and ethane, on April 22 and use gravity to reshape its orbit and begin a series of passages between the planet’s cloud tops and innermost ring. 15 dive into Saturn’s atmosphere to avoid an inadvertent collision with one of the planet’s potentially habitable moons. Running low on fuel, Cassini is in the final months of its mission, heading for a crushing Sept. Scientists believe the equatorial ridges on Pan and Atlas may have formed as the moons collect grains of ice and dust from nearby rings.Ītlas was discovered in 1980 in imagery taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft during its encounter with Saturn, and it orbits around 85,500 miles (137,600 kilometres) from the planet, completing one lap every 14.4 hours. Like Pan, Atlas looks like a miniature version of Saturn, with a bulbous central body and a smooth ridge spanning its equator. The disc-shaped moon is about 19 miles (30 kilometres) across, slightly larger than the moon Pan, which is similar in appearance.Ĭassini took the closest-ever pictures of Pan during a flyby in early March, with its shape drawing comparisons to a walnut or ravioli. One of Saturn’s peculiar moons has received an up-close look from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, which sent back the best-ever pictures of Atlas, an object shaped like a flying saucer orbiting just outside the planet’s rings.Ĭassini took the images of Atlas on April 12 as it passed within about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometres) of the airless moon.Ītlas circles Saturn just outside the A ring, the outermost of the planet’s main, bright rings, according to NASA. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute This unprocessed image of Saturn’s moon Atlas was taken on April 12, 2017, by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft.
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