Saturn's New Moon: Polydeuces

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedi...m?imageID=2183

Polydeuces
New Moon
June 28, 2006 Full-Res: PIA08209
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA08209

This magnified view shows tiny Polydeuces, a moon that was discovered
by
the Cassini spacecraft and 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 presently know precious little about it. Further
observations
by Cassini may yield additional insights about its nature and
composition.

The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on
May 22, 2006 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. The image was obtained 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. The
image has been magnified by a factor of four and contrast-enhanced to
aid visibility.

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 .

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute