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s1995s3.txt
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1996-01-12
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RELEASE DATE: July 28, 1995
PHOTO RELEASE NO: STScI-PRC95-29
HUBBLE DISCOVERY IMAGE OF NEW MOON ORBITING SATURN
This four-picture sequence (spanning 30 minutes) shows one of
four new moons discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope, in
images taken of Saturn on May 22, 1995, when Saturn's rings were
tilted edge-on to Earth.
Identified as S/1995 S3, the moon appears as an elongated white
spot near the center of each image. The new moon lies just
outside Saturn's outermost "F" ring and is no bigger than about
15 miles across. The brighter object to the left is the moon
Epimetheus, which was discovered during the ring-plane crossing
of 1966. Both moons change position from frame to frame because
they are orbiting the planet.
Saturn appears as a bright white disk at far right, and the
edge-on rings extend diagonally to the upper left. To the left
of the vertical line, each image has been processed to remove
residual light from the rings and accentuate any faint satellites
orbiting near the rings. The long observing times necessary to
detect the faint satellites have resulted in Saturn's bright,
overexposed appearance.
Saturn ring plane crossings happen only once every 15 years, and
historically have given astronomers an opportunity to discover
new satellites that are normally lost in the glare of the
planet's bright ring system.
Credits: Amanda S. Bosh (Lowell Observatory), Andrew S. Rivkin
(Lowell Observatory and University of Arizona/Lunar Planetary
Lab), High Speed Photometer Instrument Definition Team (R.C.
Bless, PI), and NASA