Saturn's Moon Dione Captured in New Image from Cassini Spacecraft

First Posted: Jun 21, 2015 05:58 PM EDT

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has sent back some spectacular new images of Saturn's fracture-faced moon Dione. The new images reveal a bit more about this moon with images that were taken when Cassini was just 321 miles above the moon's surface.

Dione is a moon with heavily cratered terrain. In fact, some craters are as large as 62 miles across. In addition, Dione possesses fractured areas that cut across these craters. It is also constantly bombarded by very fine ice powder from Saturn's E-ring.

Dione is in resonance with two other nearby moons: Mimas and Enceladus. These moons speed up slightly as they approach each other and slow down as they draw away, causing their orbits to vary slightly in a long series of complex changes, which helps keep them locked in their positions.

This latest image reveals one of the best pictures of Dione to date, showing its pocked surface and revealing a bit more about the icy moon.

On Aug. 17, the Cassini spacecraft will make its final flyby of Dione, traveling within 295 miles of the surface. This final encounter will be Cassini's second-closest brush with the icy moon.

Want to learn more? Check out the NASA site for Cassini.

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TagsNASA, Cassini, Saturn, Dione