* Astronomy

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RE: Hyperion

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Cassini Prepares for Last Up-close Look at Hyperion

NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make its final close approach to Saturn's large, irregularly shaped moon Hyperion on Sunday, May 31.
The Saturn-orbiting spacecraft will pass Hyperion at a distance of about 34,000 kilometers at approximately 6:36 a.m. PDT (9:36 a.m. EDT). Mission controllers expect images from the encounter to arrive on Earth within 24 to 48 hours.
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Spacecraft discovers Saturn's moon Hyperion is charged

Cassini spacecraft received the equivalent of a 200 volt electric shock from the electrostatically charged surface of Saturn's moon, Hyperion, confirming that objects in the outer Solar System can have charged surfaces, according to UCL research.
The study, published in Geophysical Research Letters, reports that Cassini was briefly magnetically connected to the surface of Hyperion, allowing it to be caught by a beam of electrons coming from the moon's surface. Static electricity is known to play an important role on Earth's airless, dusty Moon, but evidence of surface charging on other objects in the Solar System has been elusive until now.
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Hyperion, also known as Saturn VII, is a moon of Saturn discovered by William Cranch Bond, George Phillips Bond and William Lassell on 16 September 1848
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Cassini Closes in on Saturn's Tumbling Moon Hyperion

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Credit NASA

NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured new views of Saturn's oddly shaped moon Hyperion during its encounter with this cratered body on Thursday, Aug. 25. Raw images were acquired as the spacecraft flew past the moon at a distance of about 25,000 kilometres, making this the second closest encounter.
Hyperion is a small moon -- just 270 kilometres across. It has an irregular shape and surface appearance, and it rotates chaotically as it tumbles along in orbit. This odd rotation prevented scientists from predicting exactly what terrain the spacecraft's cameras would image during this flyby.

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Extraordinary close-up reveals sponge-like surface of Saturn moon

For all the world, it looks like a sponge in extreme close-up in a darkened room.
But this astonishing image taken by Nasa's Cassini probe actually shows one of Saturn's moons.
One of 62 confirmed moons circling the ringed planet, Hyperion is dotted with huge, deep craters that have astronomers buzzing.
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This image of Hyperon was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on November 28 , 2010, when it was approximately 73,997 kilometres away.
The image was taken using the CL1 and GRN filters.

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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This image of Saturn's irregularly shaped moon Hyperion was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Oct. 21, 2007, when the spacecraft was approximately 151,000 kilometres from Hyperion and at a Sun-Hyperion-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 111 degrees.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

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This image of Hyperon was taken by the Cassini spaceprobe on October 20, 2007, when it was approximately 351,292 kilometres away.

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

The image was taken using the CL1 and CL2 filters.

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Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

This image of Hyperion was taken in visible green light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on July 23, 2007, when it was approximately 318,000 kilometres away.