Loading the simulation…

A Journey to the End of Time

The Solar System in 3D, in real time

A simulation of the Solar System driven by real ephemerides. The Sun, the planets, Pluto and the major moons, space probes, the International Space Station, nearby stars and the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way are where they really are at the chosen moment. You can run time from 1700 to 2100, fly from one object to another and look at the sky from anywhere on Earth.

Dione

Moon of Saturn

Facts

Mean diameter
1123 km
Mean distance from the planet
377,700 km
Orbital period
2.74 days
Discovery
Giovanni Domenico Cassini, 1684

Dione is a moon of Saturn with a dense core surrounded by ice so cold that it behaves like rock. The bright streaks seen from afar, observed up close by the Cassini probe from 2005, are ice cliffs in canyon walls.

Two small moons share its orbit: Helene, 60° ahead, and Polydeuces, 60° behind. Its discoverer, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, counted it among the “Sidera Lodoicea”, the stars dedicated to Louis XIV.

Sources