An image taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of Saturn's two moons Mimas and Pandora reveasl how different the two are from each other.
Saturn is best known for its rings but the planet is also quite famous for hosting more than 53 moons. What's even more astounding is that each moon is different from the other and contains a world of its own.
A recent picture taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of Saturn's two moons Mimas and Pandora reminds us again as to how different these celestial bodies are from one another. The bigger moon in the picture is Mimas, which actually is one of the smallest major moons of the planet. Scientists believe that this moon is made up essentially of water ice.
The image was captured in blue light with Cassini's narrow-angle camera on May 14, 2013 ,when the spacecraft was approximately 690,000 miles way from Mimas.
Beneath Mimas, Saturn's elongated Pandora is visible. This moon has a diameter of 52 miles and is believed to be in the shape of a potato. Scientists claim that the reason for Pandora having such a weird shape is because of its small size and lack of sufficient gravity.
The spacecraft was at a distance of 731,000 miles from Pandora. Though not visible in the picture, Pandora is believed to be coated in dust-sized ice material that covers even its craters.
Earlier in July, NASA revealed pictures of Earth taken July 19 by Cassini, where the Earth appeared as a mere dot in space. These pictures were taken from Saturn and are the first images obtained where the Earth and moon have been photographed as two distinct objects in space.
Another black and white picture was taken by MESSENGER, the first probe to orbit Mercury at a distance of 61 million miles (98 million kilometers).
