Newest Saturn Moons Given Names

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zavvy

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<b>Newest Saturn Moons Given Names </b><br /><br />LINK<br /><br />Three new moons discovered around Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft have been given provisional names. <br /><br />The discoveries were made last year, not long after Cassini had arrived in orbit around the ringed planet. <br /><br />Two moons detected in August have been given the names Methone and Pallene, while another found in October has been provisionally named Polydeuces. <br /><br />Three more candidate objects are still awaiting confirmation as moons. <br /><br />Methone and Pallene circle Saturn between the orbits of two other Saturnian moons, Mimas and Enceladus. They were discovered by Sebastien Charnoz at the University of Paris, France. <br /><br />Polydeuces was detected by Professor Carl Murray at Queen Mary, University of London, UK. <br /><br />This latter object is an example of a so-called Trojan moon - it is twinned with a larger satellite in orbit around the planet. <br /><br />Wandering moon <br /><br />Trojan moons are found near stable "Lagrange points" - places where the gravitational pull of the planet and the larger satellite become balanced. <br /><br />The Trojans are situated 60 degrees ahead or behind the larger moon in its orbit (in the case of Polydeuces, the larger moon is Dione). <br /><br />"Unlike Helene, Dione's other Trojan moon, Polydeuces can get as close as 39 degrees to Dione and then drift as far as 92 degrees from it, taking over two years to complete its journey around the Lagrange point," Professor Murray told the BBC News website. <br /><br />"The extent of this wandering is the largest detected so far for any Trojan moon." <br /><br />Two objects seen in June called S/2004 S3 and S/2004 S4 are still awaiting confirmation as moons. Another candidate moon - S/2004 S6 - was seen in October. <br /><br />Professor Murray explained that although S/2004 S4 has not been seen since, S3 was seen again in Octobe
 
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jmilsom

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So what are the respective meanings of Methone, Pallene and Polydeuces? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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thinice

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Methone and Pallene are daughters of the giant Alcyoneus; Polydeuces is a son of Zeus, brother of Helen of Troy.
 
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