14 DAY TRIAL // Mission controllers for the NASA Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn have recently released this new image of the small moon Janus, one of several dozen celestial bodies orbiting the gas giant.
Thus far, astronomers were able to identify a total of 62 moons around the solar system's second-largest planet. The potato-shaped Janus is larger than most, featuring a diameter of 179 kilometers, or 111 miles. Geologists believe this small world is made up almost exclusively of ice and rocks.
The image above was collected by Cassini as the orbiter was flying more than 1 million kilometers (621,000 miles) away from Janus. The Narrow-Angle Cameras (NAC) were used to observe the moon on September 10, 2013. Though not present in this view, the Saturnine moon Epimetheus accompanies Janus in its orbit.
Cassini has been studying the gas giant, its ring system and its moons since achieving orbital insertion around Jupiter, on July 1, 2004. Since then, it has continued to provide invaluable data on some of the most interesting objects in the solar system, including the moons Titan and Enceladus, which may be capable of supporting life, Universe Today reports.