[X] My Assistant

[dilo]

Nice RGB sequence showing Enceladus passing in front of Titan:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...8/N00049968.jpg
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...8/N00049967.jpg
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/imag...8/N00049966.jpg

Here the aligned RGB combination:

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[ermar]

it was a good reminder for me what a small world Enceladus really are

Yep, I remember this composite of Britain and Enceladus from a while back:

Not all that big, really!

[David]

Yep, I remember this composite of Britain and Enceladus from a while back:

Not all that big, really!

Ugh. I do not like these sorts of comparisons between three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional surfaces; they are very deceptive. Yes, Enceladus would "fit inside" the island of Great Britain -- but only if it were half embedded in the earth's crust with the rest of it towering into the sky!

A better comparison is of surface area to surface area, not of spherical diameter to surface area. If you could unroll Enceladus surface onto the surface of earth, it would occupy an area slightly smaller than France and Germany combined; that is, the parts of Enceladus we can directly observe are a good deal bigger than Great Britain.

[volcanopele]

Ugh.  I do not like these sorts of comparisons between three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional surfaces; they are very deceptive.  Yes, Enceladus would "fit inside" the island of Great Britain -- but only if it were half embedded in the earth's crust with the rest of it towering into the sky! 

A better comparison is of surface area to surface area, not of spherical diameter to surface area.  If you could unroll Enceladus surface onto the surface of earth, it would occupy an area slightly smaller than France and Germany combined; that is, the parts of Enceladus we can directly observe are a good deal bigger than Great Britain.

that is a much better comparison. At some talks I've given, I compared the surface area to that of Turkey. I'll dig up the graphic.