Ice moon Tafia seems to be hovering over the North pole of Saturn is the spectacular new photo of the spacecraft “Cassini”, NASA.
But this is only a panoramic illusion — in fact, Tafia revolves around the Equatorial plane of the gas giant, the representatives explained NASA.
Tafia is one of 62 moons that travel around the most famous “ringed” planet of the Solar system. Natural satellite is composed almost entirely of water ice. Tafia revolves at a distance of 294 660 km from Saturn, making it the third farthest of the 3 largest moons of the planet.
“This view on the sunlit side of the rings at an angle 17 degrees above their plane — say the representatives of NASA. The image was taken apparatus “Cassini” with a wide-angle camera on 26 January 2015 using the spectral filter.
Cassini in orbit around Saturn since 2004. During this time, the probe closely looked at the atmosphere, rings and moons of the planet. Photos of Tethys taken by Cassini, have shown many interesting elements, including a large impact crater Odysseus and mysterious arcuate red stripes on the North side of the moon.
Red strips of material crossing the surface of Tethys, became for scientists a surprise, as the red color is rarely found in the atmosphere. While scientists do not know exactly, how are the red arches. There is a hypothesis that they may be remnants from the gas emanating from the inside of the moon. Further observations by Cassini for Tifia in high resolution will help to know the exact origin of these mysterious marks.
The Cassini mission will end in September 2017 when the spacecraft suicidal plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn.
