Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Feb 10, 2006 7:36:50 GMT -6
Telesto
(Thu, 09 Feb 2006) This false-colour view taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft shows the surface features and color variation on the moon Telesto. Similar to Pandora, the smooth surface of this Trojan moon suggests that it's covered with a mantle of fine, dust-sized icy material. The small moon Telesto is about 24 kilometers (15 miles) wide. Cassini captured this image at a distance of approximately 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) with its narrow-angle camera on December 25, 2005.
A false colour view of the Trojan moon Telesto.
These views show surface features and color variation on the Trojan moon Telesto. The smooth surface of this moon suggests that, like Pandora, it is covered with a mantle of fine, dust-sized icy material.
The monochrome image was taken in visible light (see PIA07696). To create the false-color view, ultraviolet, green and infrared images were combined into a single black and white picture that isolates and maps regional color differences. This "color map" was then superposed over a clear-filter image. The origin of the color differences is not yet understood, but may be caused by subtle differences in the surface composition or the sizes of grains making up the icy soil.
Tiny Telesto is a mere 24 kilometers (15 miles) wide.
All images were acquired with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 25, 2005 at a distance of approximately 20,000 kilometers (12,000 miles) from Telesto and at a Sun-Telesto-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 58 degrees. Image scale is 118 meters (387 feet) per pixel.
Full story here at Universe Today: www.universetoday.com/am/publish/closer_telesto.html?922006
NASA Cassini/Telesto site: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/image-details.cfm?imageID=1987
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Looks like a debris piece and captured by Saturn. Let's use it for a penal colony.