Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Stereo Helene

NASA ^ | June 23, 2011 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to Helene, small, icy moon of Saturn. Appropriately named, Helene is one of four known Trojan moons, so called because it orbits at a Lagrange point. A Lagrange point is a gravitationally stable position near two massive bodies, in this case Saturn and larger moon Dione. In fact, irregularly shaped ( about 36 by 32 by 30 kilometers) Helene orbits at Dione's leading Lagrange point while brotherly ice moon Polydeuces follows at Dione's trailing Lagrange point. The sharp stereo anaglyph was constructed from two Cassini images (N00172886, N00172892) captured during the recent close flyby. It shows part of the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Helene mottled with craters and gully-like features.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA; Stereo Image by Roberto Beltramini]

[SunkenCiv]

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[Ken522]

Thank you for posting this - I just wish I had some red/blue glasses to see this one ...

[samtheman]

Amazing what these solar system probes send back to us.

[RadiationRomeo]

Is this moon so small that you couldn’t stand on it?
I’d think you would just float around near it.

I’ve always wondered the same thing about Phobos and Deimos.

[kidd]

The escape velocity on Phobos is only 28 mph.

You couldn’t jump off of it, but you could easily throw a baseball off of it.

[RadiationRomeo]

Thanks for the thought.

I’m going to figure out what the radius of a moon would be where you could jump off. That would be easier than trying to figure out if you could walk on it. May as well throw in different activities like throwing the baseball, or a normal model rocket, etc. This will be fun.

[RoadTest]

” And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,” - Revelation 12:7

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a picture of a planet, asteroid or “moon” that doesn’t look as though it could have been in a major war.

Helene looks like a fragment remaining from a broken-up planet.

[TheOldLady]

Pale blue and bright red make my favorite color combination. My whole house would be decorated as such if I had the moola.

[bigheadfred]

Yeah, but too much of a good thing. “Anybody seen TOL?” “aaahhh, she’s been sitting in her house staring at the walls for weeks....”

[TheOldLady]

Fred Fred Fred. All the walls are white, nice bright pure white. The upholstered furniture would be pale blue with bright red throw pillows and other accent pieces.

So it would be, "Anybody seen TOL?” “aaahhh, she’s been sitting in her house staring at the furniture for weeks....”

Get it right, Honey.   ;-)   ♥

[bigheadfred]

Pale blue and bright red. Sounds like a Space Oddity. “Ground control to TheOldLady...Ground control to TheOld Lady...Take your protein pills and PUT YOUR HELMET ON....

[TheOldLady]

You know very well that I’m a mutant alien, so Space Oddity furniture is quite appropriate here.

All out of protein pills and forced to eat flesh this morning.

Helmet is on, SIR!

[colorado tanker]

That certainly is one of the stranger moons I’ve seen.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Colonel_Flagg:

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
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2743309/posts

[MaxMax]

Mix water color with starch and wipe on a used pair of readers.

[Ken522]

Thanks, MaxMax ...

[MaxMax]

I was also thinking Food coloring would stain the glass also.