14 DAY TRIAL // As an avid (for some reason) fan of Saturn, I constantly keep track of the images the NASA/ESA Cassini orbiter sends back to Earth. Therefore, I couldn't resist the temptation of sharing the latest image the spacecraft snapped of Enceladus, while the ice-covered moon was at its crescent.
Backdropped by the rings of Saturn, this view shows Enceladus only partially lit, due to the position of the spacecraft in relation to both the moon and the Sun. A portion of the gas giant's rings can be seen in the background, also lit from an oblique angle.
Mission controllers used the narrow-angle cameras (NAC) aboard Cassini to snap this image, from a distance of roughly 291,000 kilometers (180.820 miles). The photo was captured on January 4, 2012, and has a scale of 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) per pixel.
Enceladus is one of the three moons in our solar system that are believed to have high chances of supporting life. Other include Saturn's Titan and the Jovian moon Europa. The latter is also covered in ice, just like Enceladus, whereas Titan features an exquisitely-complex hydrocarbon cycle.