June 8, 2003
You were not dropped into the cosmos as a stranger. You came from it entirely: borrowed from stars, carried by Earth, warmed by the Sun, and...
Rhea: Saturn's Second Largest Moon
Birthday · June 8, 2003
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APOD published June 8, 2003. Credit: Calvin J. Hamilton. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Rhea is the second largest moon of Saturn, behind Titan, and the largest without an atmosphere. It is composed mostly of water ice, but has a small rocky core. Rhea's rotation and orbit are locked together (just like Earth's Moon) so that one side always faces Saturn. A consequence of this is that one side always leads the other. Rhea's leading surface is much more heavily cratered than its trailing surface. The above photograph was taken with the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1980. NASA's Cassini spacecraft is currently on route to Saturn and will arrive in 2004.
Image credit: Calvin J. Hamilton