Dione

Dione (/daɪˈoʊni/), also designated Saturn IV, is the fourth-largest moon of Saturn. Its trailing hemisphere is marked by large ice cliffs called chasmata and is also darkened compared to the leading hemisphere. Based on its density, Dione’s interior is likely a combination of silicate rock and water ice in nearly equal parts by mass. The moon was discovered by Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1684 and is named after the Titaness Dione in Greek mythology.
Name[edit]
Giovanni Domenico Cassini named the four moons he discovered (Tethys, Dione, Rhea and Iapetus) Sidera Lodoicea ("the stars of Louis") to honor king Louis XIV. Cassini found Dione in 1684 using a large aerial telescope he set up on the grounds of the Paris Observatory. The satellites of Saturn were not named until 1847, when William Herschel's son John Herschel published Results of Astronomical Observations made at the Cape of Good Hope, suggesting that the names of the Titans (sisters and brothers of Cronus) be used. 
== Orbit ==
Dione orbits Saturn with a semimajor axis about 2% less than that of the Moon. However, reflecting Saturn's greater mass (95 times that of Earth), Dione's orbital period is one tenth that of the Moon. Dione is currently in a 1:2 mean-motion orbital resonance with moon Enceladus, completing one orbit of Saturn for every two orbits completed by Enceladus. This resonance maintains Enceladus's orbital eccentricity (0.0047), providing a source of heat for Enceladus's extensive geological activity, which shows up most dramatically in its cryovolcanic geyser-like jets. The resonance also maintains a smaller eccentricity in Dione's orbit (0.0022), tidally heating it as well.
Dione has two co-orbital, or trojan, moons, Helene and Polydeuces. They are located within Dione's Lagrangian points L4 and L5, 60 degrees ahead of and behind Dione respectively. A leading co-orbital moon twelve degrees ahead of Helene was reported by Stephen P. Synnott in 1982.
Category:Saturnian Moons
Category:Moons
Category:Objects In Hydrostatic Equilibrium
Category:Objects with Transient Atmospheres
Category:Outer Solar System Object
Category:Prograde Satellite
Category:Named Objects
Category:Named Moons
Category:Major Moon of Saturn
Category:Numbered Objects
Category:Numbered Moons
Category:Objects Visited by Spacecraft