Approaching Enceladus

The images comprising this mosaic view were taken with NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of about 112 100 kilometres from Enceladus. The image scale is about 670 metres per pixel.

The south polar region (seen here at the lower right) has a distinctive tectonic structure that sets it apart from the rest of the satellite. Its outer boundary is marked by a series of pronounced tectonic 'gashes' that form a hoop-like boundary, near 60 degrees south latitude. In this image, this fault zone forms the transition region from the presumably older, cratered terrain in the north to the younger, nearly crater-free region in the south.

This false-colour view is a composite of individual frames obtained using filters sensitive to ultraviolet (centred at 338 nanometres), green (centred at 568 nanometres) and infrared light (centred at 752 nanometres). The view has been enhanced to accentuate subtle colour differences and fine-scale surface features.