Cassi­ni ren­dezvous with Sat­urn's moons

Iapetus
Iapetus is one of Saturn’s most mysterious moons: this icy moon with a diameter of 1468 kilometres presents the observer with two hemispheres that have developed in completely different ways. The hemisphere facing the opposite direction of the moon’s orbit around Saturn, the so-called 'trailing side', as well as the polar areas, consist of white ice and reflect the light of the Sun almost 100 percent; on the surface of the hemisphere facing the direction of orbit, the so-called 'leading side', however, carbon compounds cover the ice – cyanide and other carbon compounds make the surface as black as tar. This false-colour image shows the first mosaic of high-resolution image data from bright side of Iapetus; it consists of 60 separate images, which were recorded in September 2007 from a distance of 73 000 kilometres. This flyby had been planned in great detail by staff members of the Freie Universität Berlin and DLR. The transition zone between both extremes is especially interesting. Decisive explanatory information about the cause of Iapetus’ strange characteristics has been provided not only by the image data from Cassini, but also through observations performed with NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Beyond the orbit of Iapetus, Saturn is surrounded by a giant torus of tiny, dark dust particles, inclined at 27 degrees to the equator and the main ring plane. The particles originate from impacts on the small moons of Saturn that orbit further out than Iapetus, such as Phoebe, whose orbit lies in the middle of the torus. The density of the particles is extremely low, yet high enough for some of the small particles that migrate towards the interior of the Saturn system are attracted by the leading side of Iapetus and, over a long periodof time, have been collected and compacted into a thin, black layer.
Credit:

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

DownloadDownload

Flyby

Moon

Date

Altitude

(km)

Flyby speed

(km/sec)

Phase-angle

(deg)

Part of mission

0

Phoebe

11.06.2004

2,068

6.4

24

pre-arrival

A

Titan

26.10.2004

1,174

6.1

91

Saturn Orbit Insertion

(SOI)

B

Titan

13.12.2004

1,192

6.1

102

SOI

B

Huygens Probe

Release

24.12.2004

n/a

n/a

n/a

SOI

C

Iapetus

01.01.2005

65,000

2.0

94

SOI

C

Titan

14.01.2005

60,003

5.4

93

SOI

3

Titan

15.02.2005

1,579

6.0

99

nominal

4

Enceladus

09.03.2005

497

6.6

43

nominal

5

Titan

31.03.2005

2,404

5.9

66

nominal

6

Titan

16.04.2005

1,027

6.1

127

nominal

11

Enceladus

14.07.2005

166

8.2

64

nominal

13

Titan

22.08.2005

3,660

5.9

44

nominal

14

Titan

07.09.2005

1,075

6.1

85

nominal

15

Tethys

24.09.2005

1,495

9.0

68

nominal

15

Hyperion

26.09.2005

479

5.6

48

nominal

16

Dione

11.10.2005

499

9.1

66

nominal

17

Titan

28.10.2005

1,353

5.9

105

nominal

18

Rhea

26.11.2005

504

7.3

87

nominal

19

Titan

26.12.2005

10,411

5.6

67

nominal

20

Titan

13.01.2006

1,000

6.0

53

nominal

21

Titan

15.01.2006

2,043

5.8

120

nominal

22

Titan

29.01.2006

2,631

5.8

72

nominal

23

Titan

27.02.2006

1,812

5.9

92

nominal

24

Titan

19.03.2006

1,949

5.8

148

nominal

25

Titan

30.04.2006

1,855

5.8

121

nominal

26

Titan

20.05.2006

1,879

5.8

163

nominal

27

Titan

02.07.2006

1,905

5.8

148

nominal

28

Titan

22.07.2006

949

6.0

105

nominal

28

Titan

07.09.2006

1,000

6.0

45

nominal

29

Titan

23.09.2006

960

6.0

90

nominal

30

Titan

09.10.2006

980

6.0

81

nominal

31

Titan

25.10.2006

1,030

6.0

25

nominal

35

Titan

12.12.2006

1,000

5.9

125

nominal

36

Titan

28.12.2006

1,296

5.9

62

nominal

37

Titan

22.02.2007

1,000

6.2

161

nominal

38

Titan

10.03.2007

981

6.2

150

nominal

39

Titan

26.03.2007

1,010

6.2

144

nominal

40

Titan

10.04.2007

991

6.2

137

nominal

41

Titan

26.04.2007

981

6.5

130

nominal

42

Titan

12.05.2007

959

6.2

122

nominal

43

Titan

28.05.2007

2,299

6.1

114

nominal

44

Titan

13.06.2007

965

6.2

107

nominal

45

Titan

29.06.2007

1,933

6.2

96

nominal

46

Titan

19.07.2007

1,332

6.2

34

nominal

47

Titan

31.08.2007

3,324

3.1

87

nominal

49

Iapetus

10.09.2007

1,622

2.4

59

nominal

50

Titan

02.10.2007

973

6.3

67

nominal

52

Titan

19.11.2007

999

6.3

51

nominal

53

Titan

05.12.2007

1,295

6.3

70

nominal

54

Titan

20.12.2007

970

6.3

61

nominal

55

Titan

05.01.2008

1,014

6.3

38

nominal

59

Titan

22.02.2008

1,000

6.3

30

nominal

61

Enceladus

12.03.2008

48

14.4

137

nominal

62

Titan

25.03.2008

999

999

21

nominal

67

Titan

12.05.2008

1,001

6.3

36

nominal

69

Titan

28.05.2008

1,400

6.3

21

nominal

78

Titan

31.07.2008

1,614

6.2

49

extended Equinox

80

Enceladus

11.08.2008

49

17.7

110

extended Equinox

88

Enceladus

09.10.2008

25

17.7

113

extended Equinox

91

Enceladus

31.10.2008

169

17.7

110

extended Equinox

91

Titan

03.11.2008

1,105

6.3

171

extended Equinox

93

Titan

19.11.2008

1,023

6.3

28

extended Equinox

95

Titan

05.12.2008

961

6.3

25

extended Equinox

97

Titan

21.12.2008

971

6.3

83

extended Equinox

102

Titan

07.02.2009

967

6.3

136

extended Equinox

103

Titan

21.03.2009

966

6.0

142

extended Equinox

106

Titan

27.03.2009

963

6.3

84

extended Equinox

108

Titan

04.04.2009

4,147

5.8

151

extended Equinox

109

Titan

20.04.2009

3,599

5.8

149

extended Equinox

110

Titan

05.05.2009

3,242

5.8

146

extended Equinox

111

Titan

06.06.2009

968

6.0

135

extended Equinox

112

Titan

22.06.2009

955

6.0

128

extended Equinox

113

Titan

08.07.2009

965

6.0

120

extended Equinox

114

Titan

24.07.2009

955

6.0

112

extended Equinox

115

Titan

09.08.2009

970

6.0

104

extended Equinox

116

Titan

25.08.2009

970

6.0

86

extended Equinox

119

Titan

12.10.2009

1,300

6.0

99

extended Equinox

120

Enceladus

02.11.2009

99

7.7

90

extended Equinox

121

Enceladus

21.11.2009

1,602

7.8

87

extended Equinox

130

Enceladus

28.04.2010

99

6.5

93

extended Equinox

131

Enceladus

18.05.2010

434

6.5

114

extended Equinox

131

Titan

20.05.2010

1,400

5.9

112

extended Equinox

132

Titan

05.06.2010

2,044

5.8

87

extended Equinox

133

Titan

07.06.2010

1,005

5.9

82

extended Equinox

134

Titan

21.06.2010

880

5.9

82

extended Equinox

136

Enceladus

13.08.2010

2,550

6.8

85

extended Equinox

138

Titan

24.09.2010

8,175

5.7

60

extended Equinox

140

Titan

11.11.2010

7,921

5.6

121

extended Equinox

141

Enceladus

30.11.2010

48

6.3

78

extended Equinox

142

Enceladus

21.12.2010

48

6.2

89

extended Equinox

143

Rhea

11.01.2011

76

8.0

101

Solstice Mission

145

Titan

18.02.2011

3,651

5.8

62

Solstice Mission

147

Titan

19.04.2011

10,053

5.6

101

Solstice Mission

148

Titan

08.05.2011

1,873

5.9

47

Solstice Mission

149

Titan

20.06.2011

1,359

5.9

73

Solstice Mission

153

Titan

12.09.2011

5,822

5.8

5.8

Solstice Mission

154

Enceladus

01.10.2011

99

7.4

102

Solstice Mission

155

Enceladus

19.10.2011

1,230

7.5

118

Solstice Mission

156

Enceladus

06.11.2011

496

7.4

74

Solstice Mission

158

Dione

12.12.2011

99

8.7

49

Solstice Mission

158

Titan

13.12.2011

3,586

5.8

100

Solstice Mission

159 Titan

Titan

02.01.2012

29,415

5.5

76

Solstice Mission

160

Titan

30.01.2012

31,131

5.4

96

Solstice Mission

161

Titan

19.02.2012

3.803

5.8

143

Solstice Mission

163

Enceladus

27.03.2012

74

7.5

105

Solstice Mission

164

Enceladus

14.04.2012

74

7.5

104

Solstice Mission

165

Enceladus

02.05.2012

74

7.5

100

Solstice Mission

166

Titan

22.05.2012

955

5.9

71

Solstice Mission

167

Titan

07.06.2012

959

5.9

75

Solstice Mission

169

Titan

24.07.2012

1,012

5.9

58

Solstice Mission

172

Titan

26.09.2012

956

5.9

47

Solstice Mission

174

Titan

13.11.2012

973

5.9

68

Solstice Mission

175

Titan

29.11.2012

1,014

5.9

44

Solstice Mission

181

Titan

17.02.2013

1,978

5.8

35

Solstice Mission

183

Rhea

09.03.2013

997

9.3

138

Solstice Mission

185

Titan

05.04.2013

1,400

5.8

69

Solstice Mission

190

Titan

13.05.2013

970

5.9

50

Solstice Mission

194

Titan

10.07.2013

964

5.9

46

Solstice Mission

195

Titan

26.07.2013

1,400

5.8

58

Solstice Mission

197

Titan

12.09.2013

1,400

5.8

21

Solstice Mission

198 Titan

Titan

14.10.2013

961

5.9

25

Solstice Mission

199

Titan

01.12.2013

1,400

5.8

50

Solstice Mission

200

Titan

01.01.2014

1,400

5.8

35

Solstice Mission

201

Titan

02.02.2014

1,236

5.9

44

Solstice Mission

202

Titan

06.03.2014

1,500

5.8

53

Solstice Mission

203

Titan

07.04.2014

963

5.9

60

Solstice Mission

204

Titan

17.05.2014

2,993

5.7

158

Solstice Mission

205

Titan

18.06.2014

3,658

5.6

165

Solstice Mission

206

Titan

20.07.2014

5,103

5.6

171

Solstice Mission

207

Titan

21.08.2014

964

5.8

12

Solstice Mission

208

Titan

24.08.2014

1,013

5.8

31

Solstice Mission

209

Titan

22.09.2014

1,400

5.8

21

Solstice Mission

210

Titan

10.12.2014

980

5.8

56

Solstice Mission

211

Titan

11.01.2015

970

5.8

46

Solstice Mission

212

Titan

12.02.2015

1,200

5.8

55

Solstice Mission

213

Titan

16.03.2015

2,275

5.7

70

Solstice Mission

215

Titan

07.05.2015

2,722

5.7

34

Solstice Mission

217

Dione

16.06.2015

516

7.3

58

Solstice Mission

218

Titan

07.07.2015

10,953

5.6

78

Solstice Mission

220

Dione

17.08.2015

473

6.4

67

Solstice Mission

222

Titan

28.09.2015

1,839

8.5

63

Solstice Mission

223

Enceladus

14.10.2015

1,839

8.5

63

Solstice Mission

224

Enceladus

28.10.2015

49

8.5

118

Solstice Mission

225

Titan

13.11.2015

11,920

5.5

92

Solstice Mission

228

Enceladus

19.12.2015

4,999

9.5

114

Solstice Mission

230

Titan

16.01.2016

3,818

5.7

99

Solstice Mission

231

Titan

01.02.2016

1,400

5.8

120

Solstice Mission

232

Titan

16.02.2016

1,018

5.9

122

Solstice Mission

234

Titan

04.04.2016

990

5.9

138

Solstice Mission

235

Titan

06.05.2016

971

5.9

138

Solstice Mission

236

Titan

07.06.2016

975

5.9

124

Solstice Mission

238

Titan

25.07.2016

976

5.9

101

Solstice Mission

239

Titan

10.08.2016

1,600

5.8

92

Solstice Mission

243

Titan

27.09.2016

1,737

5.8

88

Solstice Mission

248

Titan

14.11.2016

1,582

5.8

80

Solstice Mission

250

Titan

29.11.2016

3,223

5.7

82

Solstice Mission

270

Titan

22.04.2017

979

5.8

61

Solstice Mission

Contact

Elke Heinemann

Digital Communications
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Corporate Communications
Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne
Tel: +49 2203 601-1852

Ulrich Köhler

German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Institute of Planetary Research
Rutherfordstraße 2, 12489 Berlin