Latest Dione Stories

Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online Thirty-three years ago today, astronomers discovered Saturn's moon Telesto using ground-based observations. Astronomers Bradford A. Smith, Harold Reitsema, Stephen M. Larson and John W. Fountain were performing ground observations on April 8, 1980 when they discovered the Saturn moon. The moon was officially named after Telesto of Greek mythology, but was also designated as Saturn XIII or Tethys B. NASA said Telesto is known as...

Shortly after passing Enceladus, Cassini had a non-targeted encounter of Dione. At closest approach, the spacecraft flew within about 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometers) of the moon. Cassini's cameras captured several mosaics during this encounter, including one taken around the time of closest approach that covered a fracture named Latium Chasma at resolutions of about 175 feet (53 meters) per pixel. Other mosaics cover much of Dione's northern hemisphere that faces away from Saturn in its orbit,...

The Cassini spacecraft has captured new images and measurements of some of Saturn’s moons. This new evidence may help scientists determine if life does exist outside of Earth’s closed system. Enceladus, the moon with the most promise for microbial life, has cryovolcanic geysers on its surface that spews into the moons thin atmosphere. The Cassini spacecraft flew into these plumes at an altitude of 46 miles above the surface. They used the ion and neutral mass spectrometer instruments...

Researchers report this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that NASA's Cassini spacecraft has detected oxygen on one of Saturn's moons. They said their finding increases the likelihood of finding the ingredients for life on one of the moons orbiting gas giants. The ice moon, Dione, has no liquid water and does not have the proper conditions to support life, Andrew Coates of the University College London said.  However, he said that it is possible that other moons of...

No team of reindeer, but radio signals flying clear across the solar system from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have delivered a holiday package of glorious images. The pictures, from Cassini's imaging team, show Saturn's largest, most colorful ornament, Titan, and other icy baubles in orbit around this splendid planet. The release includes images of satellite conjunctions in which one moon passes in front of or behind another. Cassini scientists regularly make these observations to study the...

NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed its closest-ever pass over Saturn's moon Dione on Monday, Dec. 12, slaloming its way through the Saturn system on its way to tomorrow's close flyby of Titan. Cassini is expected to glide about 2,200 miles (3,600 kilometers) over the Titan surface on Dec. 13. In the selection of the raw images obtained during the Cassini Dione flyby, Dione is sometimes joined by other moons. Mimas appears just beyond the dark side of Dione in one view. In...

In an action-packed day and a half, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will be making its closest swoop over the surface of Saturn's moon Dione and scrutinizing the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The closest approach to Dione, about 61 miles (99 kilometers) above the surface, will take place at about 1:39 a.m. PST (4:39 a.m. EST) on Dec. 12. One of the questions Cassini scientists will be asking during this flyby is whether Dione's surface shows any signs of activity. Understanding...

Heat output from the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus is much greater than was previously thought possible, according to a new analysis of data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. The study was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research on March 4.Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer of Enceladus' south polar terrain, which is marked by linear fissures, indicate that the internal heat-generated power is about 15.8 gigawatts, approximately 2.6 times the...

On the heels of a successful close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is returning images of Enceladus and the nearby moon Dione.Several pictures show Enceladus backlit, with the dark outline of the moon crowned by glowing jets from the south polar region. The images show several separate jets, or sets of jets, emanating from the fissures known as "tiger stripes." Scientists will use the images to pinpoint the jet source locations on the surface and learn...

Newly released for the holidays, images of Saturn's second largest moon Rhea obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show dramatic views of fractures cutting through craters on the moon's surface, revealing a history of tectonic rumbling. The images are among the highest-resolution views ever obtained of Rhea.The images, captured on flybys on Nov. 21, 2009 and March 2, 2010, can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini, http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org . "These recent,...