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Cassini Spots Another New Tiny Saturn Moon
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 13, 2006 This magnified view shows tiny Polydeuces, a moon discovered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft last month, is a mere 3 kilometers (2 miles) across. Along with much larger Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across), Polydeuces orbits Saturn at the same distance as large, icy Dione (1,126 kilometers, or 700 miles across). Because this body was only recently discovered and is so small, scientists know precious little about it. Further observations by Cassini may yield additional insights about its nature and composition, said mission controllers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Cassini took the image May 22 with its narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 73,000 kilometers (45,000 miles) from Polydeuces and at a Sun-Polydeuces-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 41 degrees. Cassini obtained the image using a spectral filter sensitive to wavelengths of infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. Scale in the original image was 434 meters (1,423 feet) per pixel, but mission scientists magnified it by a factor of four and applied contrast enhancements to aid its visibility. Related Links Cassiniat JPL Cassini images
A Captivating Saturnian Vision
Pasadena CA (SPX) Jul 12, 2006Cassini captured this arresting view of Saturn just before its tiny moon Epimetheus crossed into the blinding glare of the planet's sunlit crescent and was lost. |
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