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Saturn's 'Ice Queen' Moon Helene Shimmers in New Photo
Space.com ^ | 21 June 2011 | Mike Wall

Posted on 07/02/2011 5:54:14 PM PDT by Windflier

Saturn's small moon Helene shines like a regal ice queen in a dazzling new photo from NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

Cassini photographed the icy Helene on June 18 during a close flyby of the frigid world. At one point, Cassini zoomed to within 4,330 miles (6,968 kilometers) of Helene — the second-closest approach to the moon of the entire mission, researchers said.

Helene is an irregularly shaped world 22 miles (35 kilometers) wide. It orbits Saturn at an average distance of about 234,500 miles (377,000 km), roughly the same distance that separates Earth from our own moon. NASA officials called the moon Saturn's "ice queen" when releasing the new photo. [More Saturn moon and ring photos]


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; astronomy; helene; saturn; science; space
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Because it's slow today, and I think this is cool.
1 posted on 07/02/2011 5:54:17 PM PDT by Windflier
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To: Windflier

I saw the pic a while back but it is very cool.

There can’t be much gravity but there’s enough to pull those slides downhill.


2 posted on 07/02/2011 5:56:12 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: Windflier

Shouldn’t it have been named “Hillary”?


3 posted on 07/02/2011 5:59:28 PM PDT by mikrofon (Cold & Distant)
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To: Windflier

OMG!!! I CAN SEE MY HOUSE FROM HERE!!!


4 posted on 07/02/2011 6:02:19 PM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In Memory of my Dear Friend Henry Lee II)
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To: Windflier

That would be a totally cool view to imagine Helene coasting by in Saturn’s night sky, just like our own Moon.

Does our ‘moon’ have a name?


5 posted on 07/02/2011 6:03:17 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

I think our moon is Luna.


6 posted on 07/02/2011 6:04:53 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

“Luna”


7 posted on 07/02/2011 6:06:13 PM PDT by dadgum (Overjoyed to be a Pariah)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Does our ‘moon’ have a name?

Selene, Luna, I'm sure there are others.

/johnny

8 posted on 07/02/2011 6:06:59 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper

I call it Petey.


9 posted on 07/02/2011 6:09:25 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: Windflier
Helene shimmers, Helen simmers:

Helen of Thomas: The face that launched a thousand quips.

10 posted on 07/02/2011 6:09:36 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Helen of Thomas: The face that launched a thousand quips.)
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To: Windflier

How could a moon this small have ICE on it?


11 posted on 07/02/2011 6:16:49 PM PDT by Ken522
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To: Ken522

There’s probably a 7-11 there or something,,,


12 posted on 07/02/2011 6:21:45 PM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office)
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To: cripplecreek
There can’t be much gravity but there’s enough to pull those slides downhill.

How big is that moon anyway? I posted the thread, but I really haven't seen much else about it.

13 posted on 07/02/2011 6:32:09 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Ken522; KevinDavis

because its cold?

*shrug*


14 posted on 07/02/2011 6:32:38 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: Windflier

It says its 22 miles across


15 posted on 07/02/2011 6:33:43 PM PDT by GeronL (The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
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To: cripplecreek
"Helene is an irregularly shaped world 22 miles (35 kilometers) wide."

Excuse me while I utter a well deserved, Duh!

16 posted on 07/02/2011 6:34:16 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: mikrofon
Shouldn’t it have been named “Hillary”?

I know. What's up with that? They blew the opportunity to finally give a celestial body the perfect name.

17 posted on 07/02/2011 6:36:13 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Does our ‘moon’ have a name?

Yes, it's Luna.

Funny, I was just telling one of my kids that the other night. She's studying the Solar System, and I stumped her on that question.

18 posted on 07/02/2011 6:37:46 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Ken522
How could a moon this small have ICE on it?

It probably came that way from the factory.

19 posted on 07/02/2011 6:38:34 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: Ken522
How could a moon this small have ICE on it?

Well, when you think about it, comets are supposedly composed of ice. Water ice is a natural compound that occurs all over the universe - not just here on earth.

20 posted on 07/02/2011 6:39:42 PM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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