Saturns Moon Helene from Cassini
Explanation:
What's happening on the surface of Saturn's moon Helene?
The
moon was imaged in
unprecedented detail last week as the
robotic
Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn
swooped to within
two Earth diameters of the diminutive moon.
Although conventional craters and hills appear, the
above raw and unprocessed image also
shows
terrain that appears unusually smooth and
streaked.
Planetary astronomers will be inspecting these detailed images of
Helene to glean clues
about the origin and evolution of the 30-km across floating iceberg.
Helene is also unusual because it circles Saturn just
ahead of the large moon
Dione, making it one of only four known moons to occupy
a gravitational well known as a stable
Lagrange point.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
