Nov 12 1980
From The Space Library
Climaxing a 1.3 billion-mile, 38-month trip from Earth, Voyager 1 came within 77,000 miles of Saturn for "man's best-ever look" at its surface, the Washington Star reported. Cameras surveying some of Saturn's moons revealed a huge crater with a central peak on Mimas; bright cobweb markings on Rhea and Dione; and a 500-mile canyon cutting through the frozen surface of Tethys, all moons that until now were only points of light as seen by Earth telescopes.
Voyager 1 showed particles in the narrow outer F ring orbiting in three "braided" strands, as JPL scientists described there; from 470,000 miles, the ring appeared about 20 miles wide with small "knots" that might be clumps of ring material, or mini-moons. (W Star, Nov 13/80, A-5)
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