Why Does This Look Like A 3D Model

Cassini Saturn Craft bids farewell to icy moon Mimas, making its final close approach & creating this hi-res image

nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia17213/farewell-to-mimas

it looks like two images put together

Probably because it really is 3D

Why would they use a model and not CGI if they were faking it?

Space actually looks like shit in reality, films make space look better than it is

>sun is clearly shining from the right to left
>left side that is supposed to be dark is visible

spacelets will fall for this.
wake up sheeple

This. It's doctored. You can see for the right side of the image the craters appear illuminated from well off-right of frame, while for most of the moon center and left it seems to be illuminated from behind the camera (somewhat to the upper left).

Also with no atmosphere, there's no diffuse lighting in space, which looks unnatural to us but is often replicated by CGI graphics engines due to simpler setup and rendering of a point-light source.

The sun is shining from the right and saturn is reflecting the sun light from the left you fucking idiots. It's a moon, quite close too.

Also
>Also with no atmosphere, there's no diffuse lighting in space, which looks unnatural to us but is often replicated by CGI graphics engines due to simpler setup and rendering of a point-light source.
This is utter bullshit.

Because it's very easy to model planets/satellites.

actually the earth is cover by a dome so this image is fake

Looks like HDR exposure

a word of reason.

Those of us who care applaud thee, esteemed user.

If you actually read the link OP included you'd see that it's a mosaic.

>Two versions of the mosaic are provided. In one, the left side, which is lit by reflected light from Saturn, has been enhanced in brightness in order to show the full surface. The second version features more natural illumination levels (Figure 1).

>Imaging scientists combined ten narrow-angle camera images to create this mosaic view. The scene is an orthographic projection centered on terrain at 17.5 degrees south latitude, 325.4 degrees west longitude on Mimas. An orthographic view is most like the view seen by a distant observer looking through a telescope.

>This mosaic was acquired at a distance of approximately 28,000 miles (45,000 kilometers) from Mimas. Image scale is approximately 820 feet (250 meters) per pixel. The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Jan. 30, 2017.

So it looks weird because it has had the dark side brightened. It is NOT planetshine. Pic is the second version mentioned.

What is "Huge fucking reflective palnet ober there?"

I'll take The Bleeding Obvious, again, for 200, Alex.

>It is NOT planetshine.

Dude, it literally is, planetshine is where the light on the side away from the sun is coming from, so that they can take a picture of it and make a mosaic. Your quoted text even says so:

" In one, the left side, which is lit by reflected light from Saturn"

Other planets don't have highly reflective water oceans acting as mirrors so that explanation is pure bullshit.

I should've been more clear with that sentence, I knew it would bite me in the ass. The extremely bright "dark side" in the OP isn't entirely due to planetshine, but because the image had been doctored to hugely increase the brightness of that side of the moon. Planetshine isn't THAT bright.

Pretty sure I detect some light being reflected there...

OK, fair enough. In summary, planetshine lights the otherwise dark portion of Mimas in the image, making them visible though still darker than the sun side; the dark portions have brightened artificially compared to the bright side, for purposes of making a full, clear image.

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