Helene in color

Strangely shaped Helene is the leading co-orbital companion of Saturn'smoon Dione.  Cassini flew past it on June 18, 2011, acquiring numerous images from a range of phase angles.  This image was taken from a distance of 7,000 kilometers and has a resolution of about 42 meters per pixel. It is an approximately natural color view composed of red-, green-, and blue-filter images.

The co-orbital moons appear to collect lots of fine dust. In Helene's case, this fine dust has cascaded downhill to fill local topographic lows that likely originated as craters.  More resistant material juts above the dusty slopes.