The Solar System - Word Search - PUZZLE #18 DIONE - August 2025

PUZZLE #18 - DIONE 

IN-CONTEXT WORD DEFINITIONS

Ice Cliffs: Ice cliffs on Dione are steep, towering walls of water ice formed along fractures and faults. These cliffs are part of the "wispy terrain" and indicate tectonic activity in Dione’s past, likely caused by internal stresses or impacts.

Catenae: In planetary geology, catenae are chains of craters. On Dione, catenae may form from debris impacts or surface collapse, and they provide clues about the moon’s surface processes and internal structure.

Eurotas: Eurotas Dorsum is a ridge (dorsum) on Dione. It is named after Eurotas, a river god in Greek mythology. Like other ridges on the moon, Eurotas may be the result of tectonic forces that caused the crust to buckle or uplift.

Dorsa: Dorsa (plural of dorsum) are ridge-like features on Dione’s surface. These ridges can form from crustal compression, tectonic uplift, or subsurface movements, and they are often found alongside faults and other tectonic structures.

Fossae: Fossae are long, narrow depressions or trenches, often caused by tectonic stretching. On Dione, fossae are evidence of the moon’s geologic activity and shifting icy crust. They frequently cut across older craters, suggesting they are relatively younger features.

Helene: Helene is one of Dione’s two Lagrangian moons, orbiting 60° ahead of Dione at its L4 Lagrange point. It’s a small, irregularly shaped body that shares Dione’s orbit around Saturn.

Polydeuces: Polydeuces is Dione’s trailing Lagrangian moon, located at the L5 point, 60° behind Dione. It is much smaller than Helene and was discovered later, in 2004. Its orbit helps scientists study gravitational dynamics within Saturn’s complex moon system.

Titaness: Titaness refers to the mythological origin of Dione’s name. In Greek mythology, Dione is a Titaness, sometimes described as the mother of Aphrodite. This mythological connection is reflected in the naming of Dione and other Saturnian moons, many of which are named after Titans and Titanesses.

King Louis: This likely refers to Giovanni Cassini, who discovered Dione in 1684 while working at the Paris Observatory under the reign of King Louis XIV of France. Cassini named the Saturnian moons after Titans in honor of the mythological Golden Age, possibly to flatter the Sun King, who had adopted the sun as his emblem.

Secret Word: This type of moon is a smaller body that shares an orbit with a larger moon or planet, positioned at a stable gravitational point (Lagrange point). Dione has two such moons