Rhea Revisited, Mosaics from the 30 August 2007 Encounter Options

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In the excitement leading up to the Iapetus flyby twelve days later, the 5000 km-range nontargeted Rhea encounter (49RH) recieved relatively little attention here. As we all know, Rhea is the most dynamic and thrilling of the worlds in orbit around Saturn, and I'm certain that the short shrift it's been given infuriates you all to the point of aneurysm. A combination of sucktastic downsampling on the raws page, smeared Saturnshine, and equatorial-ridge envy doomed this beautiful visit to oblivion. As I've had the pleasure of taking a day off to play with these (thanks Emily for that awesome Selected ISS Data page!) I'm proud/drunk to present The Forgotten Flyby.

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Possibly the highlight of the encounter, the huge 14-footprint mosaic and stereo views of the very prominent (and hopefully soon to be named) ray crater are truly astonishing. This may be one of the best observations of the PM, and nicely compliments the single frame of it accquired during the previous close pass in November 2005. Here's the eleven shots comprising the mosaic portion of this sequence. Keep in mind that limitations imposed by: a)software and : exploitcorporations' alcohol consumption results in distortions of perspective and position. I take no responsibility for you getting lost and your oxygen bottle running out.

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