The Great Basin on Tethys

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 2006-02-08 · NASA (public domain)

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The Great Basin on Tethys — APOD for 2006-02-08

Some moons wouldn't survive the collision. Tethys , one of Saturn's larger moons at about 1000 kilometers in diameter, survived the collision, but sports today the expansive impact crater Odysseus. Sometimes called the Great Basin, Odysseus occurs on the leading hemisphere of Tethys and shows its great age by the relative amount of smaller craters that occur inside its towering walls . The density of Tethys is similar to water-ice . The above digitally enhanced image was captured late last year by the robot Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn as it swooped past the giant ice ball .

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2006-02-08 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.

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