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And Cassini Jumps Over the Moon
By Greg Clark
Staff Writer
posted: 01:06 pm ET
01 September 1999
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When the Cassini spacecraft swung within 730 miles of Earth on August 17, the mission's scientists took the opportunity to test some of spacecraft's instrumentsWhen the Cassini spacecraft swung within 730 miles of Earth on August 17, the mission's scientists took the opportunity to test some of spacecraft's instruments. They aimed cameras at Earth and the moon, taking a series of images as Cassini zoomed by on the way to its eventual destination, Saturn. The Cassini imaging team released some of those pictures Wednesday, hailing them as evidence that the spacecraft's systems are functioning wonderfully. "These are the first images taken by Cassini for both photogenic and scientific purposes, and they illustrate that the cameras are functioning beautifully" said Carolyn Porco, leader of Cassini Imaging Science Team. In a statement, Porco predicted that the cameras would wow earthlings when they send back pictures of Jupiter in late 2000 and Saturn beginning in 2004. The Cassini Imaging Lab, which is located at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, released two still images and two very short movies of the moon. The images were taken about 80 minutes prior to Cassini's closest approach to Earth when the craft was some 234,000 miles from the moon. Launched in 1997, Cassini is scheduled to enter orbit around Saturn in 2004 to begin a 4-year scientific mission to study the planet, its moons and rings.
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