Saturn, considered the jewel of our solar system, is home to more than 60 moons, each one as unique and interesting as the next. Now NASA has released a new image of one of its small moons: Tethys.
While the image makes it look like the moon lies within Saturn’s rings, that’s actually not the case: the rings, which are nearly edge on, are the bands above the moon, and their curving shadows are stretched across Saturn below.
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In fact, the moon orbits about 294,600 km away from the mighty Saturn. It’s believed that Tethys is made up of mostly water ice and a small amount of rock. And the moon is small — only about 1,062 km across.
As you can see in the image, Tethys has a giant impact crater that is about 400 km in diameter — nearly two-fifths of the moon itself. Normally, an impact that big would have shattered a moon, but astronomers believe that Tethys must still be partially molten.
Cassini, which reached orbit around Saturn in 2004, took the image at a distance of about 65,000 km.
To see a high-definition image, click here.
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