Cassini captures ice queen Helene
The flyby will help scientists better understand the history of Saturn’s small moon.
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NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. —
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June 21, 2011 NASA's Cassini spacecraft obtained this unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Helene June 18, 2011. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Cassini passed from Helene's night side to the moon's sunlit side. It also captured images of the Saturn-facing side of the moon in sunlight, a region that was only illuminated by sunlight reflected off Saturn the last time Cassini was close in March 2010. This flyby will enable scientists to finish creating a global map of Helene so they can better understand the history of impacts to the moon and gully-like features seen on previous flybys.
The closest Helene encounter of the mission took place March 10, 2010, when Cassini flew within 1,130 miles (1,820 kilometers) of the moon.
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