The first breathtaking images are in from Cassini's close encounter with Enceladus, Saturn's 'geyser moon'

The south polar region of Saturn's active, icy moon Enceladus awaits NASA's Cassini spacecraft in this view, acquired on approach to the mission's deepest-ever dive through the moon's plume of icy spray.(Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute) As NASA's Cassini spacecraft dove toward Enceladus on October 28, its cameras captured a trove of visual data — and today, the first images have reached home. I think you'll agree that they are truly breathtaking. Cassini captured the image above from an altitude of 38,000 miles above the surface of the icy planet. The spacecraft was racing toward the south polar region of Saturn's moon, located below the wavy ridge-like features toward the bottom. And here's what it saw as it skimmed just 77 miles above that surface: