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00-036 "Saturn From Rhea"
2000, digital

Cloud-shrouded Titan is an oddity among the moons of the solar system; Rhea, the second largest of Saturn's moons, is much more typical than its bigger neighbor. Rhea's surface presents us with a scene that in many ways resembles Earth's moon: an airless black sky, a landscape blasted by meteorite impacts. There are differences, however; we are nine times farther from the sun than Earth or moon, and thus our star is a tiny yet still brilliant speck. Rhea's surface is composed mainly of water ice, yet at temperatures so low that it behaves like rock. And of course, Earth's moon would not have the lovely ringed planet looming nearby. From Rhea, Saturn's rings cover 30 degrees of the sky; sadly, Rhea's orbit plane is matched closely with those rings, so we can only see them as a razor-thin slice of light.

Chris Butler