The Cassini spacecraft reveals details on the surface of small, irregularly shaped Helene in this close-up view, obtained during the spacecraft's closest encounter with this moon during its four-year primary mission.
Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) is a Trojan moon, sharing Dione's orbit but staying 60 degrees or 400,000 kilometers (250,000 miles) ahead of the much larger moon.
The image was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 20, 2007. The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 39,000 kilometers (24,000 miles) from Helene and at a Sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 61 degrees. Image scale is 231 meters (758 feet) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Cassini came close to Saturn's small moon Helene on Feb. 25, 2006, acquiring this high-resolution view. This object seems to be buried in its own crater debris, like another Saturnian moon, Telesto.
Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) orbits 60 degrees ahead of Dione in the larger moon's orbit, making it a "trojan" moon of Dione. Trojan moons are named for the Trojan group of asteroids that orbit 60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter as it circles the sun.
This image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera at a distance of approximately 68,000 kilometers (42,000 miles) from Helene and at a sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 99 degrees. Image scale is 406 meters (1,334 feet) per pixel.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
This set of images exposes details on small and crumpled-looking Helene. Large portions of this Trojan moon of Dione appear to have been blasted away by impacts.
Cassini passed within 50,000 kilometers (31,000 miles) of Helene (32 kilometers, or 20 miles across) on Aug. 17, 2006, when these images were acquired. The views were obtained over the course of an hour, and are presented here in reverse order (i.e., the leftmost image was taken latest).
The images were taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera. As presented here, the views were acquired at distances ranging from 62,000 to 51,000 kilometers (39,000 to 32,000 miles) from Helene and at a Sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111 to 120 degrees. Image scale is 375 to 300 meters (1,230 to 984 feet) per pixel, from left to right.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
The small moon Helene leads Dione (not shown) by 60 degrees in the moons' shared orbit.
Helene (33 kilometers, or 21 miles across) is a "Trojan" moon of Dione (1,123 kilometers, or 698 miles across), named for the Trojan group of asteroids that orbit 60 degrees ahead of and behind Jupiter as it circles the Sun.The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Nov. 24, 2008 at a distance of approximately 68,000 kilometers (42,000 miles) from Helene and at a Sun-Helene-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 30 degrees. Image scale is 408 meters (1,338 feet) per pixel.The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.
Voir l'image PIA10544: Helene Attends Dione sur le site de la NASA.