Polydeuces is a tiny moon of Saturn, only a few kilometers across, found in images from the Cassini spacecraft in October 2004. It is a Trojan moon of Dione: it shares Dione's orbit but stays about sixty degrees behind it, near a stable gravitational point known as L5. Unlike most Trojan bodies it moves back and forth, wandering widely around that point in a pattern called libration. It is named after Polydeuces, the Greek form of Pollux, one of the twin Dioscuri of Greek mythology. Its discovery showed that Saturn's moons include small companions locked into the orbits of larger neighbors.
Before and after
- October 2004Discovery of 55 Cancri e
- October 2004Discovery of 2M1207b
- from 3 October 2004 to 13 May 2012Premiere of Desperate Housewives
- 20 October 2004Creation of Ubuntu
- 21 October 2004Discovery of Polydeuces
- 25 October 2004South Thailand insurgency
- 26 October 2004Founding of European Border and Coast Guard Agency
- 26 October 2004Release of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- 28 October 2004Discovery of S/2004 S 6
More in Universe & space
- 1 May 1949Discovery of Nereid
- 20 August 1977Launch of Voyager 2
- 28 July 1989Discovery of Galatea
- 23 July 1995Discovery of Comet Hale-Bopp
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 10 September 2005Discovery of Dysnomia
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.
