Abstract
Icy Moons Several icy moons orbiting the giant planets have oceans of liquid water beneath their solid ice surfaces. It has been suggested that Dione, the fourth largest moon of Saturn, could have a similar subsurface ocean. Zannoni et al. analyzed radio-tracking data taken when the Cassini spacecraft (named after the astronomer who discovered Dione in 1684) flew past the moon on three occasions between 2011 and 2015. They reconstructed Dione's gravity field, combined it with measurements of topography, and then matched the geophysical properties with models of the interior structure. Their analysis supports the interpretation that Dione has a small, deep, subsurface liquid ocean, but they caution that the models are not fully constrained. Icarus 345 , 113713 (2020).
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