NASA's Cassini orbiter has revealed many surprises within the Saturn system, including the possible presence of a ring of debris surrounding the ancient heavily cratered surface of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon.

NASA's Cassini orbiter has revealed many surprises within the Saturn system, including the possible presence of a ring of debris surrounding the ancient heavily cratered surface of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon.
SuperStock offers millions of photos, videos, and stock assets to creatives around the world. This image of NASA's Cassini orbiter has revealed many surprises within the Saturn system, including the possible presence of a ring of debris surrounding the ancient heavily cratered surface of Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon. by Piemags/PL Photography Limited is available for licensing today.

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Gale Crater is well-known as the landing site of NASA's Curiosity rover, which has explored the northwest crater floor since 2012. But the entire crater is full of fascinating geology, some beyond the rover's reach. This image covers a fan of sedimentary rock on the southeast crater floor. Ridges on the fan surface may be composed of coarse-grained sediment deposited in ancient streams. More recent wind erosion of the surrounding finer sediments could have left these channel deposits elevated in inverted relief. A closeup shows some of these ridges, as well as light-toned layers of sediment exposed along the fan edge. The fan is also punctured by scattered circular impact craters. One of these craters appears to have a circular deposit of sedimentary rock filling its floor, suggesting that it formed during the span of time that streams were active here. Features like this help scientists to infer the geologic history of the region.
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When we acquired this image, it was northern summer and southern winter on Mars, but signs of spring are already starting to appear at latitudes not far from the equator. This image of Penticton Crater, taken at latitude 38 degrees south, shows streamers of seasonal carbon dioxide ice (dry ice) only remaining in places in the terrain that are still partially in the shade. The turquoise-colored frost (enhanced color) is protected from the sun in shadowed dips in the ground while the sunlit surface nearby is already frost-free.
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Streaked Slope in a Valley Seen by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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Bigbee is a 21 kilometer-diameter impact crater located on the northern rim of Holden crater in southern Margaritifer Terra, a region on Mars that is well known for its long record of water-rich activity as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows part of an unnamed crater, itself located inside the much larger Newton Crater, in Terra Sirenum. Original release date March 3, 2010.
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Recurring slope lineae are active flows on warm Martian slopes that might be caused by seeping water. One of the most active sites known is in the central peaks of Hale Crater as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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With NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter HiRISE camera and its powerful resolution, other mission teams can request images of potential future landing sites on Mars.
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This channelized area is near the source region of the huge outflow channel, Ares Vallis. It was at the distal end or 'long-ways down-river-area' where the Pathfinder/Sojourner mission landed on 4 July 1997.
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SP Crater, a volcanic cone and flow in Arizona, is visible in this image obtained in 2001. Satellite image.
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This image shows the west-facing side of an impact crater in the mid-latitudes of Mars' northern hemisphere. HiRISE.
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft covers some of the plains south of Capri Chasma in eastern Valles Marineris.
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Gullies are common on steep slopes of many impact craters on Mars. When gullies were first observed, there was a lot of excitement surrounding them because similar features form on Earth through the action of liquid water. However, liquid water is currently unstable on the surface of Mars. Long-term observations have prompted many scientists to question a liquid water origin for the gullies, and alternative ideas have been suggested. These include flows of salt-rich (briny) water, as the salt would allow water to be liquid under lower temperatures than those for pure water. Also dry processes, which do not require the action of liquid water at all. Monitoring of gullies by HiRISE could help scientists better understand the conditions where the gullies are active, and in doing so, help understand how they form.
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Wind Effects on Martian Soil
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Streaked Slope in a Valley Seen by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows the central pit feature of an approximately 20-kilometer diameter complex crater in located just north of the Valles Marineris. A a partial ring of light-toned, massive and fractured bedrock is obse
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows mounds of light-toned deposits within the central portion of Valles Marineris.
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This image is located on the southeastern flank of a volcano on Mars called Arsia Mons. On the eastern side of the image, the lobate margin of an old lava flow is visible among brighter tones. The upstanding rims of several degraded impact craters are also visible. In the detailed cutout, we can see that the bright tones are erosion resistant outcrops, likely from dust that has accumulated and been sculpted by the wind. (The small crater on the left of the cutout is 70 meters across.) Arsia Mons is a shield volcano with a relatively low slope and a massive caldera at its summit.
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The deep chasm that formed on the polar cap edge is identified as an area of strong down-slope winds and has a clear connection to Mars' largest dune field, Olympia Undae as observed by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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The southern section of Cydonia Region is dominated by both a series of craters and the remnants of channels that may be from a past fluvial system as seen by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.
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STS103-728-022 (19-27 December 1999)--- One of the astronauts aboard the Earth-orbiting Space Shuttle Discovery used a handheld 70mm camera to photograph the Tifernine dunes (note, the dunes are below the "beak" of sandstone rock). According to NASA scientists studying the STS-103 photo collection, the dunes were created when the dark sandstone rocks trapped sand. Winds, they continued, then piled the sand into dunes up to 457.2 m (1,500 ft). The color of the sandstone is due to a desert varnish, the scientists reported. The varnish is composed of manganese, iron oxides, hydroxides, and clay minerals, they said.
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This image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows a landscape that is pervasively eroded, right up to the tops of the ridges, with channels extending down into depositional fans much like alluvial fans in the Mojave Desert.
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Image Number: 6145-44807406Royalty FreeCredit Line:Piemags/PL Photography Limited/SuperStockCollection:PL Photography LimitedStory:Martian Surface GeologyContributor:PiemagsModel Release:NoProperty Release:NoResolution:780×584
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