MOG

Ring shadows line the face of distant Saturn, providing a backdrop for the brilliant, white sphere of Enceladus. This icy moon, with its heavily modified surface and towering plume of icy material, is a target of intense study for Cassini during its Equinox mission.

This image looks toward the leading side of Enceladus (504 kilometers, or 313 miles across) and was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on June 28, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 291,000 kilometers (181,000 miles).

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Amazing how quickly one can feel terribly alone, ejected off the surface of a much larger world. Many of us, fortunately, can find our way back. Good friends, good tunes, good memories. However, this week I've been preoccupied by someone obsessed with the safety and protection of isolation. The devil you know, and all.

How lucky we are that we even know how good it can be together. That despite how many knocks crater our surface (block that metaphor!), we instinctively reach out.

It's a big, beautiful world, everywhere. Thank you, everyone, for being a part of it.

So grab the hi-res. The big picture, and all.