Discovery of Pallene

Pallene is a small inner moon of Saturn, only a few kilometers across, discovered in images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1981. It orbits between the larger moons Mimas and Enceladus, close to the faint G ring, and it is one of the Alkyonides, a group of tiny moons named after daughters of the giant Alcyoneus in Greek mythology. The Cassini mission later revealed that Pallene shares its orbit with a ring arc and has a smooth, rounded surface covered in fine dust. Material knocked from its surface by impacts is thought to help feed the faint G ring. It is a good example of the small moons that interact with Saturn's rings.

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