NASA Finds An Atmosphere Around Another Of Saturn's Moons

False color image of Saturn's moon Dione (Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)

NASA’s Cassini probe, which is currently on a mission to explore Saturn and her moons, has detected signs of a thin atmosphere around Saturn’s moon Dione. This confirms a hypothesis from the Hubble Space Telescope, which detected signs of ozone around that Moon.

The Cassini probe detected a very thin concentration of oxygen ions around the moon – one ion for every 11 cubic centimeters of space around the Moon. That’s roughly the same density as the Earth’s atmosphere 300 miles above its surface. That’s actually higher above the Earth than the International Space Station, which maintains an altitude between about 205 and 255 miles.

Alex Knapp, Forbes Staff

I write about the future of science, technology, and culture.

3/03/2012 @ 11:21PM

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/03/nasa-finds-an-atmosphere-around-another-of-saturns-moons/

So, when does the Colonization Start?;)

Don