Saturn · natural satellite

Dione

Fractures across an icy crust

Cassini resolved Dione’s bright wispy terrain into systems of fractures and cliffs. Older cratered plains preserve a different part of its history.

Mean diameter: 1,122.8 km
Mean orbital distance: 377,700 km from centre
Orbital period: 2.737 Earth days

Dione · NASA spacecraft imagery — NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute · Image source ↗

Compared with our Moon

Dione · 1,122.8 km

Moon · 3,474.8 km

One diameter scale. Circle shapes compare volume-equivalent diameters; irregular moons are not spheres.

Orbit & discovery

Surface gravity: 0.232 m/s²
Discovery: 1684
Discoverer / team: G.D. Cassini
Provisional designation: —
JPL satellite ID: 604
Orbital eccentricity: 0.002
Inclination: 0 degrees

Inclination reference: Laplace. Mean-element epoch: 2000-01-01.5 TDB · SAT441.

Diameters use volume-equivalent mean radii, including for irregular bodies. Mean orbital elements describe an orbit; they are not live positions. Missing physical measurements remain unavailable.

Physical measurements & uncertainties

Mean radius · km: 561.40 ±0.40 [1]
GM · km³/s²: 73.11607 ±0.00005 [SAT441]
Density · g/cm³: 1.4781 ±0.0032 [*]

Missions in the Saturn system · 5 records

5 launches · 0 linked events

These records cover the planetary system. A system mission did not necessarily visit this moon. Dedicated targets are marked separately; programme events include the journey and briefings. Launch outcomes do not establish arrival, landing success or present spacecraft operation.

Dedicated targets only

PLANETARY SYSTEM · UPCOMING